Burly, imposing and dark complexioned, Abdulrasheed Maina has a reputation for being light and heavy fingered all at once.
In 2013, Maina was Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms (PTTPR) when he was accused of theft to the tune of N2B in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
Maina
was subsequently dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission
following recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service.
Fugitive
According
to the allegation lodged by the senate at the time, Maina had defrauded
civil servants of their pensions and had diverted pension funds
totaling N2B into his personal bank accounts.
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Soon after the senate issued an arrest warrant for Maina, the man allegedly fled to Saudi Arabia to evade law enforcement back home.
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Abdulrasheed Maina is on the run (International Centre for Investigative Reporting)
In July of 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Maina alongside a former Head of Service, Steve Oronsaye, Osarenkhoe Afe and Fredrick Hamilton B Global Services Limited before a Federal High Court on a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretense.
In November of 2015, EFCC declared Maina a wanted man and launched a manhunt for the former chairman of the PTTPR.
According to multiple reports, Maina often sneaked back into Nigeria between 2013 and 2015 and was often on the run.
The
EFCC said Maina had remained at large. He also shunned court summons as
the EFCC and police officers scoured the planet for him.
N195B theft
In June of 2016, Maina announced that he had been cleared by the senate of an alleged N195B theft.
Maina said the senate had discovered that the 'missing' N195B is in the government’s coffers.
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Acting EFCC chairman Ibrahim Magu (Punch)
He also asked for an apology from the nation and from the national assembly.
“I was singled out and I suffered so much as a result of the false allegation,” Maina said.
He added that; “it is really sad that the same man ( Sen Kabiru Gaya,
chairman of the senate committee), who told the whole world that I
stole N195B has come out to say that the money is intact in Buhari’s TSA
account in the CBN. He must pay for destroying my character, integrity
and the loss of my job. I was being haunted all around, and people who
had confidence in me thought otherwise of me”.
Maina decried that he had been “maligned,
shot at, psychologically traumatized, denied my due entitlement,
hounded for serving my country diligently. If this is the reward for
serving one’s country, I fear for Nigeria because it would be hard for
people to serve this country”.
And then he disappeared again.
Reinstatement
On Friday, October 20, 2017, online newspaper Premium Times reported that Maina had returned to the government’s payroll.
According to the story; “Mr.
Maina, who is wanted by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, was secretly
recalled and promoted to the position of Director in charge of Human
Resources in the Ministry of Interior.
“Before his appointment to chair the pension task force, Mr. Maina was an Assistant Director in the ministry”.
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FEC meeting. Dambazau is far from right (Presidency)
On Sunday, October 22, 2017, Interior Minister Abdulrahman Dambazau admitted that Maina is now back in the federal civil service.
Dambazau
however washed his hands off Maina’s re-instatement and blamed the
office of the Head of Service for the man's re-emergence in government
circles.
“The attention of the
Honorable Minister of Interior, Lt Gen (Rtd) Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau,
has been drawn to a report on the recall of the wanted pension boss
sacked for alleged corruption”, read a statement from the interior minister’s office signed by the press secretary to the Honorable Minister of Interior, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo.
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President Muhammadu Buhari (Punch)
Dambazau who said he wasn’t behind Maina’s reinstatement said the “ex-Chairman
of the Presidential Task Force Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed
Maina was posted few days ago to the Ministry of Interior by the office
of the Head of Service on an Acting capacity to fill a vacancy created
following the retirement of the Director heading the Human Resources
Department in the Ministry.
“For
the avoidance of doubt, issues relating to discipline, employment,
re-engagement, posting, promotion and retirements of federal civil
servants are the responsibility of the federal civil service commission
and office of the Head of Service of the Federation, of which no
Minister exercises such powers as erroneously expressed in the
publication.
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Dambazau, Ngige, Fashola, Amaechi at FEC meeting
“It
is understood that Maina’s last posting was with the Ministry of
Interior and that is probably why he was re-posted back to the Ministry.
“It
is therefore improper for anybody to think that a minister could
exercise such powers or influence the process of discipline,
re-engagement, and deployment of any civil servant to his ministry or
any other ministry for that matter.
“Again, such responsibility is that of the Federal Civil Service Commission and/or the Head of Civil Service".
Setback
Maina’s recall to the federal civil service had been described as an embarrassment for the Muhammadu Buhari administration and a setback in the administration's much vaunted war against widespread corruption.
Buhari won the 2015 election mainly on the back of a promise to tackle corruption and endemic graft in government operations.
ALSO READ: Buhari fires Maina
The president’s anti-corruption adviser, Prof Itse Sagay, says Maina should be arrested without further delay.
“This
man was accused of embezzling billions of naira meant for pensioners
who had spent all their lives serving this country. One man took the
money they should rely on in their declining years, subjecting them to
misery and hopelessness.
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Itse Sagay (The Nation)
“This
is a moral and criminal issue. So, to hear that the man is in the
country and somebody employed him means he is not the only criminal in
the system. It means there is an accessory.
“Whoever
was involved in employing him and then giving him promotion is an
accessory after the fact to the crimes committed by this man if it is
established that he is culpable. I don’t see why he escaped if he was
not guilty.
“The EFCC should not
just say they are aware; they should take action. The EFCC should now
arrest him, interrogate him and if they can establish a case, prosecute
him. They should also investigate all those in the reabsorbing and
promotion of this man”.
Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana told Punch newspaper that the EFCC has a duty to immediately prosecute Maina.
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Femi Falana (Sahara Reporters Media)
“Maina
was declared wanted by the EFCC because of his indictment in a pension
scam. Now that he has been located, the EFCC has a duty to charge him
without any further delay.
“The
Head of Service and interior minister who shielded him from prosecution
ought to be charged with aiding and abetting the felon.
“Those
who recalled and promoted the fugitive ought to be sanctioned by
President Buhari to serve as a deterrent to others who may wish to
sabotage the war against corruption”.
Still a wanted man
The EFCC says Maina is still a wanted, runaway fugitive.
In a statement on its website, the anti-graft agency says; “the
public is hereby notified that Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, former
chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, whose photograph appears
above, is wanted by the EFCC for offences bordering on procurement fraud
and obtaining by false pretences.
“Dark
complexioned Maina is allegedly complicit in the over N2B pensions
biometric scam in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the
Federation. He remains at large after charges were filed against his
accomplices.
“Anybody with
useful information as to his whereabouts should contact the commission
in its Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt or Abuja offices”.
Maina is also on the wanted list of INTERPOL (International Police).
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Abdulrasheed Maina's poster.(Premium Times)
However,
campaign posters of Maina emerged in the social media space earlier in
the year. He’s being positioned as a governorship candidate for Borno
State in the 2019 general elections.
STOP PRESS: President Muhammadu Buhari has just fired Maina.
A statement from Femi Adesina who is Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Buhari announced as follows: "Buhari
orders immediate disengagement of Mr Abdulrasheed Maina from service.
Asks for full report on circumstances of his recall".
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