The former deputy governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, has said that bandits wreaking havoc across Nigeria were sponsored by “powerful people” who wanted to overthrow former President Goodluck Jonathan from office in 2015.

“During the 2015 elections they brought in thousands of foreigners into this country, armed them because it was a case of if Goodluck Jonathan doesn’t surrender, there will be war. They were ready for civil war; they were not ready for peace,” The Punch quoted Mr. Mailafia to have said on Thursday.

Mr. Mailafia explained that bandits continue to operate in the country even after Mr. Jonathan surrendered power.

“Of course, Jonathan handed over and then they turned their backs on the hoodlums and the hoodlums said ‘look, you brought us here and we are still here’.”

The central banker mentioned that there are certain world powers who want to destroy the nation.

“There are certain world powers that want to destroy our country. That is what I believe. There was a container load of weapons that were brought in from Turkey. Another time some were brought in from Iran. But nobody probed further and everything was swept under the carpet and that was the end of it,’’ Mr. Mailafia alleged.

Speaking further, Mr. Mailafia who was a presidential aspirant during the last election said the people carrying deadly weapons are terrorists disguising as bandits.

“I do not believe that the Niger Delta militancy can be compared to the terrorists. These people (terrorists) are not even bandits. A bandit is a common thief or a brigand. The ‘agbero’ are bandits. These people carrying sophisticated weapons and rockets are not bandits. They are terrorists,’’ he said.

“They have killed, they have maimed, they have raped and they have wreaked havoc,” he added.

In 2020, Mr. Mailafia alleged that a Northern governor was the leader of Boko Haram terrorist group, but later denounced the allegation after being quizzed by State Security Service, saying he did not have any evidence against the government over the killing of Nigerians by bandits but rather relied on the testimonies of repentant bandits who conferred with him.