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.”
Source: Sahara reporters
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