Obadiah Mailafia

(asked on 21st September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Obadiah Mailafia has received death threats and been interrogated by Nigerian security forces after he made public remarks about violence in the Middle-Belt region; and what assessment they have made of those remarks.


Answered by
Baroness Sugg Portrait
Baroness Sugg
This question was answered on 2nd October 2020

We are concerned by reports that Mr Obadiah Mailafia received death threats following his remarks. The UK Government maintains that the rights of individuals and independent media to express opinions and peacefully challenge authority are essential to a free and open society. We do not have sufficient information to assess the authorities' motivation for questioning Mr Mailafia, nor why he subsequently retracted his comments.

We do not share Mr Mailafia's original assertion that intercommunal violence was primarily religiously motivated and that there is systemic collusion between Fulani communities and Nigerian authorities in attacks against Christian communities. We will continue to call on the Nigerian Government to take urgent action to assist communities affected by the violence, bring perpetrators to justice and implement long-term solutions that address the underlying causes.

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