Following intense public pressure and even calls for his impeachment by an opposition party, President Muhammadu Buhari has described the troubling issue of the recall and double promotion of a fugitive pensions looter, Abdulrasheed Maina as “an unravelling matter” as he sought to assure Nigerians that he would not “sweep Maina’s issue under the carpet”.
Femi Adesina, a spokesperson of President Buhari, said this when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, November 1, 2017.
Maina, who ran away from Nigeria when he found to be involved in a N196 billion pensions fraud in 2012 under the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, was recalled and reinstated into the civil service under Buhari. Not only that, he was rewarded with double promotion and is reportedly receiving protection from Nigeria’s secret service.
“As far as the government is concerned, it (Maina’s case) is an unraveling matter,” Adesina said.
“The last you heard officially from the government was that he was ordered to be disengaged from service and a report was asked for, that report came in and the president has it.
“So, until the president gets back to Nigerians, you can’t say the matter is closed or it is swept under the carpet,” he added.
Maina, who was accused of mismanaging of about N2 billion pension fund, was reinstated into the Federal Civil Service after he was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
His reinstatement had sparked criticism from Nigerians, a development which some claimed prompted President Buhari to order his immediate dismissal.
Reacting to anticipations that the government will order a probe into the incident, Adesina said President Buhari only demanded a report on the circumstances that led to Maina’s readmittance into the public service.
“Nigerians love probe, you can’t call that a probe; he’s just asking for a report that led to the circumstance, it’s not a probe,” he insisted.
On the next action from the presidency, the presidential aide said: “A couple of days ago you gave a timeline on the former SGF and the former DG NIA issue.”
