Emmanuel Thomas l Monday, October 23, 2017
LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigerians are infuriated by the sudden recall of Abdulrasheed Maina who headed the controversial Presidential Pension Task Team under President Goodluck Jonathan.
Maina, who was alleged to have bought a house for $2million in Abuja was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), over allegation of looting of pension funds running into hundreds of millions of Naira.
Abdulrasheed Maina fled the country to the United Arab Emirates since 2013 to avoid arrest and prosecution only for him to resurface under President Muhammadu Buhari and be reinstated into service and promoted.
Presidency ordered the reinstatement of Maina through the Head of Service in a letter dated October 2, 2017 and promoted to the position of Acting Director in charge of Human Resources.
So far Minister of Interior, Abdulrazak Dambazzau has absolved himself, blaming the Head of Service who issued the October 2 letter claiming that Maina’s case was reviewed and that a decision was taken that he be reinstated.
However, Nigerians who spoke on the development this morning across radio stations in Lagos berated President Muhammadu Buhari, the self accalimed anticorruption czar, nothing that the anticorruption was has collapsed.
Most of those who spoke on radio said they are disappointed with President Muhammadu Buhari. “Thesame mistake the former administration made that made us to condemn them is now been repeated by this administration”, Musbau said on radio, and called on Buhari to rise up to the occasion, otherwise he will campaign against Buhari in 2019.
Another fraustrated caller, John called on Nigerians to vote for a new party and do away with the likes of All Progressive Congress(APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
On her part, Titi said she still believes in Buhari but likened the situation to what the First Lady, Aisha Buhari said, that the administration has been hijacked by Hyenas and Jackals.
Another caller, Bejide called on the President to speak up on Maina, adding that silence can no longer be golden . He alluded to the grass cutting scandal that rocked former Secretary to Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, the Ikoyi gate, involving over N13 billion, the $25 billion contract scam in NNPC and others.
However, the EFCC claims Maina remains on it wanted list.
EFCC’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said Maina remains a wanted man on the commission’s list and that they were still looking for him despite the claim that he had been pardoned and recalled by the HoS. “We are on the trail of Maina, whom we declared wanted and the situation has not changed as we speak,” Wilson said last night.
