Thursday, March 28, 2024

Maina: Buhari must react to allegations, eminent Nigerians insist

  • Fayose, Agbakoba, Junaid, Yakassai, Adebanjo react
  • President won’t grant audience to a wanted criminal – Sagay

At press time, there was no indication that the Presidency was willing to react to an allegation by the fleeing former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, that President Muhammadu Buhari mandated his recent re-absorption into the civil service, despite being a wanted man.
Maina is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to explain his roles in the alleged disappearance of over N10 billion pensioners’ savings. At the time he was to be tried during the last administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, he reportedly escaped justice by going on self-exile.
But two months ago, the embattled Maina was sighted at the Ministry of Interior where he had been re-employed; but moments later, re-escaped. Following this drama, President Buhari, apparently embarrassed, especially with the public outrage generated by the incident, ordered Maina’s sack.
But now, the former pension task force’s boss, believed to be hiding in a discreet location, far away from the long arm of the law, has been spilling beans, as he recently accused President Buhari of having foreknowledge of how he was re-employed, claiming that the President sent an emissary to him in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, led by the nation’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Maina specifically revealed that the President’s delegation came to convey a message begging him to come back and take up his job as it had been realised that he was actually cleared of any wrongdoing by the law courts. Buhari, he claimed, had set the stage for his secret re-absorption into the civil service.
He added that to reciprocate the gesture, he hinted the visiting minister of how to repatriate a missing N1.3 trillion.

‘HOW BUHARI SENT MALAMI TO ME’
Maina virtually swore by Jove, saying that President Buhari did not only know about his reinstatement, but also ordered and orchestrated it.
Recalling how his ordeal began, Maina said, “The letter of dismissal, I didn’t even receive a letter. It was when I heard about it (that) my lawyers went to court. They took the Senate to court and the court quashed whatever was the report of the Senate.
“The court also removed all the warrant of arrest. The court upheld that I should return to work. That was in April 2013. But the last administration refused to take me back to my job. They refused to obey the court order. The Head of Service was asked not to return me to the office. The Federal Civil Service Commission chairperson at that time did not want me to return to office.
“Now I did not return to office but when this government came in, the President gave his note that, ‘Go and sit down with Maina, I’ve given you the approval.’ They sat down with me after the security agencies cleared me of any wrongdoing.”
Continuing, Maina said he was not taken to court over the corruption allegation levelled against him.
He said, “Nobody has ever taken me to court in Nigeria. I want Nigerians to know. I have never been taken to any court of law. Nobody has ever sued me for anything. I’ve never been taken to any court of law.
“I have sued all the security agencies that we are talking about and I have won. I have full court judgements. They placed my name on INTERPOL, I went to court and removed it. They did this, I did that; I removed it. There is nothing they have not done. “Even the one they could not do, they went to immigration, put my name on no fly list. I went to the airport. I was in Nigeria, that was in 2015. I went to the court; the court granted me N2 million damages for not flying that day.”
Maina also shared that he had helped the government to recover N1.3 trillion.
He maintained that moves for his reinstatement started after the Attorney General, Mr. Malami, visited him.
“As soon as this present government decided to sit with me, and after sitting with me, I told them I would not leave you to go back to Nigeria without something in your pocket. I’m going to give you something in your pocket and the Minister laughed. The Minister of Justice said, ‘what are you going to give us as gift?’ I gave him a document, I said, ‘Go here, here, here, there’s N1.3 trillion; they are going to steal it because they’ve been stealing every year. He was shocked, he said, ‘It’s not possible.’ I said, ‘Sir, with all due respect, could you please try it, this is a gift I’m giving you. I haven’t got to Nigeria, I’m just giving you a gift.’ I said, ‘Try it for you to understand where I’m coming from.’
“I’m not a saint but I try as much as I can to help the system. The minister thought that won’t be possible, when he got back, he realised I gave him correct information. Now, after giving him this information, he asked me, ‘When are you coming back?’ I said, ‘I will soon be back.’ I said I had a court order.
“So, I asked my lawyer to write a petition. He now wrote a petition to government and the Minister set up a committee to look at the petition. They looked at the petition and recommended that this is a court order, that there’s no question of going back on it; nobody has appealed it since 2013 so government must obey it.
“So, he sent a letter to the Federal Civil Service Commission to say this is the petition I got in my office, I’m attaching the court order which you must respect. I’m hearing people are saying he’s directing people to reinstate me. No, he said you must respect the court order, this is the court order because he is the chief officer of the country.
“Now, the document was taken to the Federal Civil Service Commission. I went to the Federal Civil Service Commission, they told me they have just received the documents, they are going to see me later and we had a meeting. After that meeting, they wrote, ‘Office of the Head of Service’. They said we want you to sit down with your Senior Staff Committee and after that, you send it to the Ministry of Interior; that was what they used at that time, because they were coerced, which I later found out.
“The Senior Staff Committee was coerced by the then Head of Service, Mr. Isa Bello Sanni, to make sure they send me packing because I had stopped the inflow of N5.2 billion monthly to the office of the Head of Service.”

AGBAKOBA TO BUHARI: SPEAK UP, CLEAR YOUR NAME
Following this development, several stakeholders who appear to be doubting the President’s commitment to his fight against corruption, have begun to ask him to come out and respond to Maina’s claims.
A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), asked President Buhari to clarify his role in the controversy surrounding the reinstatement of the former pension board’s boss.
He said the outcome of the controversial reinstatement of Maina had dented the image of the President, thereby calling for immediate investigation of the entire case.
“Only the President can break this conundrum; otherwise, my personal belief is that right inside Aso Rock, there is some protection. If not, how can a man go in and out of Nigeria with the ease? How can Maina make allusion to the President asking him to meet with the AGF?
“In fact, Maina has dented the President’s image by alluding to the fact that the President had contact with him and instructed the AGF to make a deal with him.
“What I expect is for the President to immediately clear the air on what is going on. The whole thing is a mess and it is difficult to know who to believe. It has, in my view, created the biggest dent on the President’s anti- corruption crusade because we have all the agencies quarrelling. We have the Attorney-General of the Federation quarrelling with the Head of Service, and so on. I think the President will be doing himself a big favour to break his silence, particularly as Maina said the President approved the meeting.”

MAINA’S ALLEGATION EXPLOSIVE, SAYS FAYOSE
Also, the Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, described Maina’s statement in which the President was indicted as explosive. He said he was sure that President Buhari would look the other way as he did on the allegation of award of $25 billion contracts without following due process made against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, and many others.
Fayose, who spoke through his media aide, Lere Olayinka, maintained that, “the Maina challenge is another opportunity for President Buhari to prove that he is actually fighting corruption.
“But I am sure that since it again bothers on his closest men, he won’t do anything,” Olayinka quoted Fayose as saying.

PRESIDENT SHOULD RESIGN – ADEBANJO
A leader of the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, while speaking on the controversy, said the President should resign from office.
Adebanjo said, “There is no doubt that all that was exposed by Maina has rubbished the integrity of Buhari. With all that was exposed, he cannot claim complete innocence on the case.
“Maina said Buhari sent Malami to come and meet him in Dubai. This is a clear indication about the irregularity in his cabinet. How can you be Head of State and all these are happening under you? And again, everything about Maina was woven around Malami and the Minister of Interior. These are the people he spent six months to appoint as cabinet members.
“To me, Buhari has diminished a lot in integrity. He can’t claim innocence of Maina’s case. Imagine somebody who has been expelled, that ran out of the country, and is now coming back as a director. What kind of leaders are we having?
“That showed Buhari is not even in control of his government. Imagine, even the DSS does not know what the Interior is doing, all of them claiming ignorance of the case, what are they doing there then?”
Speaking on whether the case will affect Buhari’s coming back in 2019 or not, the elder statesman said, “He has lost it already; Nigerians are not fools. Look at the recent clash between DSS and EFCC in the public. And he didn’t say anything on it. Is that a President we have? Let me tell you, if he is a serious leader, he would have suspended both Malami and the Interior Minister over this Maina’s case, pending the investigation.”

‘PRESIDENT’S 2019 AMBITION IN JEOPARDY’
A former Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters to former President Shehu Shagari, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, said government had “a duty to tell Nigerians its position on this saga.”
Also, a northern elder statesman and former member of the House of Representatives, Dr Junaid Mohammed, said the case involving Maina and others, would determine Buhari’s fate in 2019.
He noted, “I hope when the time comes, Nigerians will be making a rational decision, whether to vote Buhari for 2019 or not. I sincerely hope they look at all the facts, look at several circumstances around him to decide.”
Junaid also called on Maina to come out of his hiding place to challenge corrupt people in government, in the court of
law.
“At the moment, Maina is now a wanted criminal. What he should do is to come out from wherever he is hiding. He should come and appear in court and then make all the statements in court formally. He shouldn’t be speaking while in a hiding place,” he said.
The elder statesman, however, said the fight against corruption by President Buhari had not been taken seriously since its commencement, adding that not a single case had been prosecuted
successfully.
“I can only score him 30 per cent in the fight so far. Most of the people he arrested have not been prosecuted. He is not serious about his fight against corruption,” he declared.

BUHARI WON’T GRANT MAINA AUDIENCE – SAGAY
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, has reacted to Maina’s request that Buhari should grant him audience so that he can confront the President with his allegations.
Sagay described the ex-pension boss’ request to meet with the President as ridiculous and out of the question. He also described Maina’s request as insulting to the country.

What I expect is for the President to immediately clear the air on what is going on. The whole thing is a mess and it is difficult to know who to believe. It has, in my view, created the biggest dent on the President’s anti-corruption crusade

On Maina’s claim that his life was in danger, having given out sensitive information, Sagay said the ex-Pension boss should turn himself in to security agencies.
He said, “The whole matter does not justify such ridiculous request. His request to meet with the President is out of the question. If every suspect has a whistle to blow and is therefore taken to the President, I don’t think the President will have any other job to
do.
‘’Apart from the protocol and status, it is even insulting to the country. He can talk to the EFCC, ICPC and Police and if he wants a higher authority, he can meet with the Inspector-General of Police. So, he does not need to get to that level at all because nobody is going to allow that.
“The police are going to protect him; he should go to the police or the EFCC. They are the best protectors, they have armed officers, and they can keep him in a safe room or safe house.
‘’I don’t think that is going to be a problem. He can easily call them and then negotiate how he would arrive there and be kept safe.”

At the moment, Maina is now a wanted criminal. What he should do is to come out from wherever he is hiding. He should come and appear in court and then make all the statements in court formally

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