Jonathan’s mean responsible for Maina’s reinstatement: Presidency
Nigerians are anxious to know the outcome of a meeting President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami over the scandal of reinstating a fugitive declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission back to his position in the ministry of Interior.Iwas a bewildered country that heard the news the return of the former Chairman Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, to the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
Malami will be meeting President Buhari , on Thursday to explain his role in the controversial reinstatement into service of fugitive Assistant Director in the Ministry of Interior, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina according to Presidency sources. .
Malami would be to explaining to the president what he knows about the embarrassing theMaina, who has been on wanted least of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for monumental fraud in the pension scheme.
The Attorney General had in n earlier reports be quoted as saying that he effected the reinstament of the for the fugitive public interest.
Malami was alleged to have by passed the Head of Service of the Federation and used the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission to reinstate Maina
Mr. Maina, who is still wanted for alleged N2 billion fraud by the EFCC fraud by the anti-graft agency, EFCC,
President Buhari, had in a statement, on Monday, ordered the “immediate disengagement” of Mr. Maina from the civil service” and also “demanded a full report of the circumstances of Maina’s recall and posting to the Ministry of Interior”.
Meanwhile, Maina’s family think that their son is used a pawn in the political chessboard. The spokesman of the family, Alhaji Aliyu Maina, told newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday that it was the APC-led administration that facilitated Maina’s return “to come back and assist its change agenda.”
He insisted that a “cabal” was out to tarnish the image of Maina in the media, noting that the family was in possession of facts that were against the cabal, which would be of great interest to the public.
Those facts, he promised, would be disclosed to Nigerians soon.
The family spokesman said, “You must have noticed the recent attempt by some cabal to ridicule and tarnish the image of the Maina family in the social, electronic and print media, where our brother, father, and uncle has been blackmailed as a fraudster. The cabal has gone to the extent of marking our house with red paint with the inscription, ‘EFCC under investigation.’
“The entire family of Abdullahi Maina is hereby categorically stating that our son is not in any way a fraudster, rather he is a messiah who brought remarkable reforms into the Nigerian pension scheme, whose efforts saw the disappearance of pensioners roaming the streets of FCT, Abuja and other state capitals.
“It is on record that Abdulrasheed Maina’s reform put a stop to the fraudulent withdrawal of huge sums from the Nigerian Pension Board and the Nigerian Police Pension Board.
“Perhaps it is his noble efforts that made him enviable to the present administration when they came into power to convince him to come back and assist in its ‘change’ agenda.”
He also added that the family had contacted their lawyer, Messrs Mamman Nasir & Co, and instructed them to act appropriately.
“We equally know that Abdulrasheed Maina is in possession of so many facts that is against the cabal and interesting to the Nigerian populace, which he will disclose soonest. One must ask whether it is an offence for somebody to serve his father land faithfully,” he said.
But the Presidency in a push-back on Wednesday as usual pointed back to Jonathan era as providing the foundation for what has ended in a profound scandal.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said some influential government officials loyal to the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan were responsible for the reinstatement of Maina into the service.
Shehu, while reacting to a statement by the Peoples Democratic Party on the Maina scandal said, “Some influential officials loyal to the previous government may have been the invisible hand in the latest scandal that saw the return of Maina to the public service, despite being on the EFCC’s wanted list.
“Everything will be uncovered in due course. This just goes to show us the scale of corruption that this government is fighting. And, as we can all see, corruption keeps fighting back viciously.”
Shehu described Maina as one of the monsters created by the former PDP government, and who are still rearing their ugly heads long after the party was defeated in the 2015 elections.
“Over and over again, President Buhari’s government has pointed out that the administration’s greatest problem is the mess left behind by the previous government. Maina is just one more example,” he added.
Referring to records from the investigations that led to the disgrace of the former pension boss and his being declared wanted by the EFCC, Shehu noted that Maina was not the only top member of the former government involved in the multibillion naira pension scandal.
“Top officials in the PDP government, from sectoral heads to those charged with responsibility for law and order, received some of these billions of naira from Maina.
“We have all the transaction records and these are matters that the EFCC has been pursuing to ensure that they all have their day in court,” he said.
The PDP had in a statement said it was not surprised that the present administration could reinstate Maina, describing them as birds of a feather.
The party had said, “It is in the light of this that the PDP wishes to state that we are not too shocked at the steps taken by the administration of the All Progressives Congress in reinstating a supposed criminal and fugitive, Abdulrasheed Maina to office instead of getting him arrested. Birds of a feather flock together.”
