Operatives of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday sealed-off a palatial mansion
owned by the embattled former chairman of now defunct Presidential
Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina.
The property, located at No. 10 Amisi
Musa Street within the Jabi Lake area, had “EFCC keep off”
inscriptions on the extended fence, as at the time Dambazau visited.
The EFCC is investigating Maina over
alleged mismanagement of N2 billion pension funds. The whopping sum
was alleged to have been misapplied through fraudulent biometric
contracts in the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the
Federation.
“Our findings confirmed that he paid
$2 million for the house in cash in one day when he was the chairman
of the Pension Reform Task Team.
“Investigation showed that the house
was sold to him in June 2012 by one Adamu Modibbo. It is located at
10, Amisi Musa Street, Jabi Lake Area. The house was bought at the
time he was in charge of pension reform,” The Nation newspaper had
quoted the EFCC.
Maina’s whereabouts remained unknown
as at the time of filing this report.
Angered by the controversial
reinstatement of Maina into the public service, President Muhammadu
Buhari yesterday queried the Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita.
In a memo to the Head of Service of the
Federation (HoSF), Buhari also ordered the immediate disengagement of
Maina from the services of the Federal Government after it was
confirmed that he had sneaked back from his hideout and resumed duty
at the Ministry of Interior in Abuja.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity
to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, in a statement, said Buhari has
also ordered full investigation into the circumstances in which Maina
was recalled to the service.
“President Buhari has demanded for a
report from the HoSF on the processes which led to the sack of the
embattled former chairman. In a memo to the Head of the Civil Service
of the Federation, the President equally demanded a full report of
the circumstances of Maina’s recall and posting to the Ministry of
Interior.
“The report is to be submitted to the
Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari,
before the end of work today, Monday, October 23, 2017,” Adesina
said.
Meanwhile, Oyo-Ita has debunked media
reports alleging that her office approved the re-instatement of Maina
and posted him to the Ministry of Interior.
“The Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation wishes to inform the public that the re-instatement and
posting of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina never emanated from
the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
“Consequently, the purported
re-instatement and posting by the Office of the Head of the Civil
Service of the Federation is totally erroneous and misleading,” the
statement read.
Dambazau recalls that the Minister of
Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (rtd), had at the weekend
confirmed the resumption of duty by Maina, as an Acting Director in
his ministry.
The confirmation came in a statement
issued by the Press Secretary to the minister, Mr. Ehisienmen
Osaigbovo.
In the statement, Dambazzau denied
being part of those behind the said re-instatement but affirmed that
Maina was posted few days ago to the Ministry of Interior by the
Office of the Head of Service on an acting capacity to fill a vacancy
created following the retirement of the Director heading the Human
Resources Department in the Ministry.
Maina was appointed by former President
Goodluck Jonathan as Chairman of the task force in 2010 to check the
corruption in the country’s pension system.
The Nigeria Police in 2012 had accused
him of misappropriating N100 billion pension funds in connivance with
others.
Following the allegation, the Federal
Civil Service Commission reportedly dismissed him for “absconding
from duty.” Maina was arraigned in absentia by the EFCC, which
declared him wanted in 2015.
In the heat of the crisis, the
embattled Maina fled the country to escape arrest by the police and
other security agencies who were on his trail.
Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, the spokesman of
the anti-graft agency in a statement at the weekend, said Maina
remained on the commission’s wanted list.
EFCC declared Maina wanted over alleged
N2 billion pension biometric scam in the Office of the Head of Civil
Service of the Federation.
In the face of the declaration,
however, Maina ‘surreptitiously’ returned to the country, and was
reinstated into the civil service as Acting Head of Department in the
Ministry of Interior.
The EFCC had insisted that the
embattled ex-pension reform boss remained a wanted person.
source: lai
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