BUHARI ORDERS FUGITIVE MAINA’S DISENGAGEMENT FROM THE CIVIL SERVICE, AS OSINBAJO ORDERS EFCC TO FISH HIM OUT
BUHARI
ORDERS FUGITIVE MAINA’S DISENGAGEMENT FROM THE CIVIL SERVICE, AS OSINBAJO
ORDERS EFCC TO FISH HIM OUT
As embarrassment swept through
Nigeria’s political leadership over the scandal in which Abdulrasheed Maina, a
fugitive former federal official who was declared wanted somehow regaining a
top position in the civil service, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered
his disengagement, according to a tweet by spokesman Femi Adesina. The tweet
read: “PMB orders immediate disengagement of Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina from
service. Asks for a full report on circumstances of his recall.”
As embarrassment swept through
Nigeria’s political leadership over the scandal in which Abdulrasheed Maina, a
fugitive former federal official who was declared wanted somehow regaining a
top position in the civil service, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered
his disengagement, according to a tweet by spokesman Femi Adesina.
The tweet read: “PMB orders immediate
disengagement of Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina from service. Asks for a full report on
circumstances of his recall.”
Vice-President Yemi Osibajo, seen at
the Murtala Muhammed Airport on his way out of the country to Indonesia,
reportedly chimed in by ordering the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) to ensure that the man is fished out.
The orders arrived after the EFCC
declared a manhunt for Mr. Maina following a Premium Times revelation at the
weekend that the former chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension
Reforms had been readmitted into the civil service to head the human resources
department of the Interior Ministry.
Before he chaired the Task Team,
Maina had been an assistant director in that ministry. He was dismissed
by the Federal Civil Service Commission in 2013 on the recommendation of the
Office of the Head of Service, following a N100 billion pension fraud scheme he
was alleged to have headed and was subsequently declared wanted by the
EFCC.
News of his reinstatement has been
received with tremendous outrage around the country, but SaharaReporters learnt
that at least four core members of President Buhari's kitchen cabinet,
including Attorney General Abubakar Malami, were instrumental to the maneuvers
which clearly demonstrate how the government’s anti-corruption effort has been
taken hostage. Mr. Malami reportedly wrote a "legal
advice" asking that Maina not be prosecuted for corruption, a memo was
then taken to Nigeria's Head of Service, eventually leading to the
reinstatement.
Prior to the reinstatement, Maina had
met with in Dubai with the Minister for Interior, Abdulraham Danbazua, to
perfect the deal. The Director-General of the Department of State
Services, Lawan Daura, and the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari then
assisted Maina's return to the country and even provided him 24-hour
protection to prevent the EFCC from arresting him.
The deal was brokered while
Buhari was in the UK attending to his health.
Shortly after the scandal broke,
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reportedly summoned EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu and
his Chief of Staff to a meeting at the Lagos airport on his way to Indonesia
and ordered them to fish out Maina and get him arrested and detained, stating
that President Buhari couldn't have been involved in the scandal.
Apart from ordering Maina's
disengagement from service, President Buhari also instructed that the
circumstances of his reinstatement be investigated and report
forwarded to the office of the Chief of Staff but Nigerians are widely
skeptical that such an investigation will see the light of day, citing the
investigations of former Secretary to the Federal Government Babachir
Lawal and the former Director-General of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, Ayo
Oke, that were never released to the public or acted on.
SaharaReporters learnt that the
investigations against Mr. Oke implicated the DG of the Department of State
Services, as Mr. Oke had always warehoused his agency funds for the Director-General
without any official records.
“Buhari’s anti-corruption orders no
longer have any steam,” a commentator told SaharaReporters today. “You
and I know the joke will blow over. Maina will disappear, and the report
of the investigation will be forgotten.”
