The President did well by ordering that he be sacked, but those responsible should be punished
It staggers the imagination and reads like a scene right out of a fictional crime thriller. The former head of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms (PTFPR), Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, accused of involvement in the embezzlement of pension funds amounting to over N2 billion suddenly resurfaced in the country after about four years on the run. He did not return furtively as a fugitive from the law but as a VIP of sorts. Here is a man who was dismissed as an Assistant Director on Grade Level 14 from the Federal Civil Service since 2013, for absconding from duty, declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the International Police Organization (INTERPOL) in 2015, and is currently facing trial in absentia before the Federal High Court in Abuja, along with two others for the alleged crime.
Maina was brought back into Nigeria in murky circumstances, reinstated into the public service and on double promotion too as an Acting Director on Grade Level 16, also in the Ministry of Interior. Apparently outraged at the absolutely inexcusable behaviour of those responsible for this fiasco, President Muhammadu Buhari promptly directed the immediate disengagement of Maina from the public service. He also ordered that the entire unsavoury affair be investigated and a report forwarded to him with dispatch. This is in line with Buhari’s reputation for personal integrity and an aversion to corruption. Unfortunately, some of those who the President will most likely rely on to probe and advice him on the issue are themselves apparently culpable in the matter.
One of such persons whose office is so critical to the success of any onslaught against corruption is the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN). The AGF’s conduct in the whole affair leaves much to be desired. The foundation of Maina’s fraudulent reinstatement in an elevated position rests on Malami’s completely misguided interpretation of a judgment delivered by Justice A. Bello of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, on March 27, 2013, which quashed the warrant of arrest issued against the ex-PTFPR boss by the Nigeria Police because it did not adhere to due process.
By no stretch of imagination could the AGF have credibly read into the judgment the meaning that it voided the validity of Maina’s excision from the service. True, the court set aside the warrant of arrest issued against Maina by the police and issued a perpetual injunction restraining the plaintiff’s arrest on the basis of the warrant. However, the judge clearly stressed in his verdict that “beyond these two reliefs, given all the facts available to the court, the applicant is not entitled to any other relief”. Justice Bello indeed advised Maina in concluding his judgment to “submit himself voluntarily to the investigation by the Senate in order to show that he respects constituted authority”.
Could the AGF pretend not to know that at the time he unilaterally, unwarrantedly and illegally granted Maina what amounts to a clean bill of health, the EFCC’s case against the ex–pension fund boss and three others filed on July 10, 2015, was ongoing? What explains the AGF’s communication with the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) on the Maina matter without reference to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF)? To compound the suspicious procedural irregularity, the FCSC in turn directly advised the Ministry of Interior to act on Maina’s reinstatement, again bypassing the OHCSF.
Although the HCSF, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, apparently tactically distanced her office from active involvement in the illegal process, we are of the view that she should have strongly voiced her reservations in the interest of justice, staff morale and integrity of the service. No less condemnable is the role of Minister of Interior, Lt-General Abdulraham Dambazau (Retd), who has unconvincingly tried to pass the buck, claiming that his office is not responsible for matters of recruitment, promotion and discipline in the public service.
The seeming somnolence of the Directorate of State Services (DSS) on the Maina saga is inexplicable. How could a man on the wanted list of a key sister security agency and a fugitive from the law in Nigeria have entered the country undetected and now again vanished mysteriously into thin air right under the supposed eagle eyes of the ubiquitous DSS operatives? Something serious is definitely amiss.
We commend President Buhari’s strong response to this sad incident. This revelation should spur him to critically reassess his war against corruption and the suitability for office of some of his close aides, with a view to re-positioning and rejuvenating his administration for the second stretch of its first term.
While urging the President to act decisively in dealing with all those implicated in this scandal, he should also seize the opportunity to address the stalled investigations into allegations of corruption against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Mr. David Babachir Lawal and Ambassador Wole Oke, respectively. At stake as long as these sorts of issues linger unnecessarily are his personal reputation, the integrity of his anti-corruption war and the credibility of his administration.
