BEVERLY HILLS, November 03, (THEWILL) – The secretive recall of erstwhile Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Force Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the federal civil service has remained a puzzle to discerning Nigerians.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had declared Maina wanted in November 2015 following an alleged multi-billion naira pensions fund scam.
While he was to be arraigned on a 24-count charge bothering on procurement fraud and obtaining money under false pretense, he fled the country and was subsequently dismissed from the civil service for absconding from work until his dramatic safe return despite his inclusion on Interpol’s wanted list.
Curiously, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Minister of Interior, Lt. General Abdulrahman Dambazau (Retd.) in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, which prides itself as an anti-graft administration, orchestrated and executed the script for the fugitive’s return and reinstatement into the civil service.
The saga and the attendant buck-passing that followed the matter by the two top officials involved is not only a huge embarrassment to the president and the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, but to the country as a whole.
It is absurd that a fugitive, who was declared wanted for allegedly stealing the common resources belonging to the people, could be facilitated to return to the country through the back door and audaciously reinstated into public service by officials who are entrusted with the task of upholding the law and constitution.
The development speaks volume of how much the anti-corruption fight has been compromised in the country where billions of naira are siphoned monthly from coffers of the state by officials and leaders.
Though President Muhammadu Buhari had set up a committee to look into the circumstances of his return and reinstatement, the disclosure by the Head of the Federal Civil Service, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, that she warned against his reinstatement has opened a can of worms on the issue.
THEWILL is therefore surprised that the Attorney-General and the Minister of Interior have not been suspended from their posts pending the completion of the committee’s investigation. President Buhari’s directive that Maina be fired from the civil service is just not enough.
The country cannot continue to be drawn back by a clique, whose actions are at variance with a government that professes to be fighting corruption.
Buhari must therefore demonstrate his resolve to change the system since there is a growing concern even from hardliners in his party that his anti-graft war is only waged against political opponents.
Sweeping the mounting corruption issues in the country under the carpet would amount to taking the citizens for a ride, especially as they have sacrificed enough under the chocking effects of these mindless looting of state resources.
The Buhari administration promised Nigerians zero tolerance on corruption irrespective of who is involved and the people expect that promise to be kept.
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