Obadiah Mailafia, a Nigerian economist who served as deputy governor of Nigeria’s central bank, has died, Peoples Gazette learnt from family sources.

Mr Mailafia, 64, died on Sunday morning at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. He was certified dead by a medical doctor at the nation’s foremost public health facility, The Gazette learnt.

Mr Mailafia hailed from Randa, in the Christian-dominated Southern Kaduna, and taught economics at different institutions.

He spent the latter part of his years advocating for a solution to the protracted killings in Southern Kaduna, which had been linked to armed herdsmen of Fulani origin.

He became a frontline critic of President Muhammadu Buhari and security agencies as part of his advocacy and was recently invited by the State Security Service to explain some of his on-air comments about deliberate violence across the country.

Mr Mailafia was survived by his wife and children.

Editor’s Note: Mr Mailafia died at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, not the National Hospital, Abuja, as earlier stated in this story.