SHOCKING: BUHARI ADMINISTRATION RECALLS WANTED EX-PENSION BOSS SACKED FOR ALLEGED CORRUPTION
SHOCKING: BUHARI ADMINISTRATION RECALLS WANTED EX-PENSION
BOSS SACKED FOR ALLEGED CORRUPTION
Abdulrasheed Maina [Photo Credit: Buzz Nigeria]
Mr. Maina is still wanted by the
Nigerian Police. President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday removed embattled former
head of the presidential task force on pension reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina;
nearly a month after a senate’s resolution urged the president to act. The
Senate had asked the president to fire Mr. Maina…
Mr. Maina alleges that a new vista of
pension looting has been opened by his recent travails The embattled head of
the presidential team on pension reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, declared wanted
over N195 billion pension fraud, has accused the Head of Service of the
federation, Isa Sali of seizing on…
The former pension boss has
dragged the Head of Service, and six others to court over his
dismissal. The controversial former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team,
Abdulrasheed Maina, on Wednesday dragged the Head of Service of the Federation
and six others before the National Industrial Court, for alleged unlawful…
The team says Mr. Maina deserves
praise not vilification.
The President Muhammadu Buhari
administration has secretly reinstated fugitive former chairman of the
Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil
service.
Multiple sources confirmed to PREMIUM
TIMES that Mr. Maina, who is wanted by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, was
secretly recalled and promoted to the position of director in charge of Human
Resources in the Ministry of Interior.
Before his appointment to chair the
pension task force, Mr. Maina was an assistant director in the ministry.
The news of the reinstatement first
filtered through a congratulatory message for Mr. Maina by a group called
League of Civil Society Organisations which commended the federal government
for the reinstatement.
Mr. Maina was in 2013 dismissed by
the Federal Civil Service Commission following a recommendation by the Office
of the Head of Service.
A retired director in the Office of
the Head of Service familiar with the matter said recalling Mr. Maina was an
affront on the rule of law.
“He should not have been reinstated.
Doesn’t Mr. Maina have a case in court? The rules provide for action to be
taken only after the courts have dispensed of the case fully,” he said.
THE PENSION FRAUD
Trouble started in 2012 when Mr. Maina was accused of leading a massive pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion. Mr. Maina, was drafted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010 to sanitize a corrupt pension system.
Trouble started in 2012 when Mr. Maina was accused of leading a massive pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion. Mr. Maina, was drafted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010 to sanitize a corrupt pension system.
Based on the allegation of
corruption, Mr. Maina was invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public
Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration.
The Senate after completion of its
investigation issued a Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Maina.
Ignoring the panel, Mr. Maina went
ahead to sue the Senate and the then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed
Abubakar, and thereafter went into hiding after being declared wanted by the
police.
Consequent upon this, Mr. Maina was
dismissed by the Head of Service for allegedly absconding from duty and
attempting to evade arrest and charged to court.
He was on July 21, 2015 charged by
the EFCC alongside Stephen Oronsaye and two others before a Federal High Court
on a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false
pretence.
While Mr. Oronsaye and the two other
accused were in court and pleaded not guilty to the charge, Mr. Maina was at
large.
Mr. Maina is said to have spent these
past years in the United Arab Emirates, from where he kept lobbying to win
pleasure of the Buhari administration.
MAINA RESURFACES
Since absconding, nothing was heard of Mr. Maina until shortly after the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 when members of his defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms offered to work with the then incoming administration.
Since absconding, nothing was heard of Mr. Maina until shortly after the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 when members of his defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms offered to work with the then incoming administration.
The team, which addressed a press
conference in Abuja, said its work would be easier under Mr. Buhari, known for
his anti-corruption stand.
A member of the team, Ngozika Ihuoma,
said one of the achievements of President Jonathan was the creation of the
pension task reform body in June 2010 under the leadership of Mr. Maina.
Two years after, it appears the
prayer of the team has been answered by the current administration.
Mr. Maina’s reinstatement was shrouded
in secrecy and was handled “at the highest level” according to an informed
source.
The reinstatement was not announced
by the presidency or any federal government agency.
Earlier this year, Mr. Maina’s
campaign posters surfaced on the social media, touting him as gubernatorial
aspirant for Borno state, without indicating political party platform.
MALAMI, DAMBAZAU FINGERED
A source knowledgeable about the deal
that brought the controversial civil servant back, said Mr. Maina pulled the
strings through the duo of the Justice and Interior ministers, who are
described as Mr. Maina’s acquaintances.
Mr. Maina is said to have used many
emissaries to the two ministers, while he was ensconced in his hiding place in
Dubai.
Interior minister, Abdulrahman
Dambazau, did not answer repeated calls to his phone seeking to clarify the
information.
The spokesperson of Abubakar Malami,
the Minister of Justice, Salihu Othman, however said he was unaware of his
boss’s role in the deal.
EFCC SHOCKED, SAYS HE’S A FUGITIVE
However, a top official of the EFCC
said Mr. Maina is still wanted by the commission in relation to the pension
scam for which he was arraigned in absentia.
“We are still looking for him. He is
a wanted man. He ought to be arraigned with Oronsaye and the rest but he
disappeared,” said the official, who pleaded anonymity.
He said the commission will
immediately revisit the case as it continues search for the embattled civil
servant.
President Buhari’s spokesperson, Femi
Adesina, said he was unaware of Mr. Maina’s reinstatement.
