Abubakar Malami, the federal attorney general and minister of justice, has opined that the furore generated by the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina, chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms into the federal civil service only starts and ends in the media.
He further stated that the sterling image of President Muhammadu Buhari and his anti-corruption war was in no way dented by the reports of public angst.
Malami revealed that President Buhari was aware of his meeting with the fugitive Abdulrasheed Maina.
“Where is the corruption element in the reinstatement of Maina, assuming without conceding that Maina was indeed reinstated? Are you insinuating that certain corrupt undertones were prevailing? What damage is there against the President as far as this scenario is and pension syndicate is concerned?”
When asked if he will resign over the Maina saga, the minister of Justice replied “It boils down to whether I have indeed acted or I have not. If hundreds of Mainas that believe they had information to offer as far as the protection of the national interest is concerned, I will meet them and I will do so again.”
Malami stated that after meeting with Maina in Dubai, he returned home and in turn briefed the President on the information he received from the fugitive and inquired from the President how best to use the information garnered.
“At the time the meeting was held (with Maina), Mr. President was not aware. But much later, after we returned back home, I took Mr. President into confidence about the information and sought for leave to share it with other agencies with the purpose of blocking leakages.
“That was the extent to which the President was aware of the information. He came to be aware of the meeting with Maina much later. It was out of the desire to seek for his directives relating to the information in terms of its application for the purpose of blocking leakages associated with the looting of pension funds.”
Malami also stated that the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd.), was also present at the meeting with Maina in Dubai. He added that the Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura was also aware and both officials agreed that the meeting was in order.
“The NSA and I met with him (Maina) at the reception of the Emirate Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. He came along with his wife. We were not aware that he was in the company of his wife. He later told me that he was apprehensive, so his wife was lurking around and in the case of any eventuality, she could relate what actually happened. So we discussed.
“The discussion happened to be very meaningful, particularly from the point of national interest. It was a time that Maina intimated us to the fact that there exists a cartel, a syndicate within the pension scheme.
“The truth of the matter is that what was been paid as pension on a monthly basis was around N5bn or so. But the actual figure required for pension settlement per month was within the range of N1.3bn. The implication of what he was saying was that around N3.7bn or so went into personal pockets.”
The AGF said Maina told him that that there were 66 accounts that were being used to divert pension funds, adding that the pension syndicate had bought a section of the media.
He said on returning to Nigeria, investigations revealed that most of the information provided by Maina was right as it led to the conviction of two individuals and the recovery of looted funds while 12 other cases were pending.
Malami, however, did not reveal the identities of the convicts.
