Legal Practitioner, Mr Jiti Ogunye,
has asked the embattled former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on
Pension Reforms, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, to present himself before the court
rather than requesting to meet with the President.
Mr Ogunye described Maina’s
comments and request to meet with the president as “cock and bull stories”, as
well as an attempt to evade the justice system.
He made this known on Channels
Television’s Sunrise daily, in
response to an exclusive interview of Maina in which he insisted that he was
innocent of the allegations preferred against him.
“Maina wants to meet with Mr
Presdient over what? Do we even respect our court at all? Do we respect our
judicial process? Do you know that in this country, Supreme Court justices are
being tried in court? Who is he to be saying that he wants to recover money?
“Present yourself, you are a
fugitive from justice. Have your day in court prove your innocence there – that
is the law that I know. All this talk about I want to see the president – for
what? He has seen the Attorney General of the Federation and he told us that he
visited Maina to the knowledge of the National Security Adviser of Nigeria”.
Mr Ogunye, speaking further about the
involvement of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, in
Maina’s return and reinstatement, described the situation as a disgraceful and
monumental scandal.
The AGF had denied having any
involvement when he appeared before the House of Representatives ad-hoc
committee, set up to investigate the case, last week.
He also gave a detailed report
of recoveries made, as well as an existing pension fraud syndicate made up of
politicians, legislators and retired civil servants, as well as Maina himself.
Mr Ogunye, however, stressed
that “the AGF should concern himself with the role he played, whether legally,
morally, ethically, even politically, it was correct for him to have played
that role.
“In the course of his
testimony before that committee, the AGF was forced to disclose that he visited
Maina in Dubai.
“What is the business of the
Attorney General of the Federation, visiting a fugitive from justice outside
the shores of Nigeria,” he questioned.
“My presumption was that a
deal was struck on how to bring Maina back into the country behind the back of
Nigerians, reinstate him and then launder him back to service”.
According to Mr Ogunye,
contrary to what Malami said, all fingers point at him as being at the centre
of Maina’s reinstatement.
“What he said has been
disproved by others including the head of service. According to them, he was
the one who initiated, instigated and triggered the whole process by writing
letters and issuing directives to the Federal Civil Service Commission.”
Giving a suggestion to the
government on what should be done, he said rather than taking Maina seriously
and having a sit down with him, the government should take itself seriously.
“The government should on the
contrary, take Maina seriously by bringing Maina to justice,” he asserted.
Meanwehile, a Senior Advocate
of Nigeria, Mr Robert Clarke, who also spoke on the breakfast show, supported
the idea that Maina should be given a chance to speak with President Buhari.
Source: ChannelsTV
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