Obadiah Mailafia

Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) died at a public hospital in Abuja of Covid-19.

Although there was no official confirmation yesterday, speculations were, according to Leadership, rife that he might have died of COVID-19.

Mailafia’s death was confirmed to the newspaper yesterday in Jos by his cousin, Mr Mike Kalla, who said: “the former deputy governor of the nation’s apex bank died after a brief illness.” Kalla said he called the deceased yesterday but his line was switched off, adding that when he repeated the call, “Mailafia picked and told him (Mike) that he had malaria.”
According to Kalla, he prayed for him to have a speedy recovery only for him to receive another call while in the church yesterday morning that he had passed on.

The suspicion of Covid-19 was also contained in the statement issued by Middle Belt Forum: “Wife of the former CBN Deputy Governor was asked to pay the sum of N600’000 as a deposit even when it was a referral case, with an accruing medical bill to be settled by the CBN. At a point, Dr Mailafia complained over his breathing problems and pleaded with the doctors to place him on a ventilator. The doctors flatly refused.”