No court has found Maina guilty of corruption —Presidency

THE Presidency, on Sunday, disclosed that no court had found former chairman of Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, guilty of corruption as insinuated.

Special Assistant on Prosecution to President Muhammadu Buhari, Okoi Obono-Obla, speaking on Channels TV Sunday Politics, said the fact that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) declared Maina wanted did not mean he was guilty.

According to him, people were just speculating, adding that “I do not know if any court of competent jurisdiction has found Maina guilty of corruption.”

This came as the anti-graft commission launched a manhunt for Maina.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that top officials of the anti-graft agency met on Sunday to discuss issues surrounding his return and the allegations against him, which led EFCC to declare him wanted.

Sunday’s meeting by the commission, according to sources, resolved to go after the man, whose return and reinstatement was confirmed by the Minister of Interior, Lieutenant-General Abdulrahman Dambazzau.

As of Sunday evening when the Nigerian Tribune made a check, Maina was still on the wanted list on the anti-corruption commission’s official website.

“The public is hereby notified that Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, former Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for offences bordering on Procurement Fraud and Obtaining by False Pretence.

“Dark complexioned  Maina is allegedly complicit in the over N2 billion 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,” the wanted notice on the website reads.

It added that anybody with useful information as to his whereabouts  should contact the commission in its Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt and Abuja offices or through listed telephone numbers and its email address as well as the nearest police station and other security agencies.

A source informed that going after Maina was in line with the warrant of arrest obtained by the commission for his arrest, saying that arresting him would be the first move in prosecuting him on the charges earlier preferred against him alongside others in the court.

When contacted, EFCC’s Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, insisted that Maina was still wanted by the commission.

According to Uwujaren, “all I can tell you is that Maina is still wanted by the commission.”

Meanwhile, the minister of Interior, Lieutenant-General Dambazzau, has confirmed the reinstatement of the embattled former chairman of Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Maina, into the civil service.

Dambazzau, however, said he did not influence the posting of Maina to the Ministry of Interior.

Maina had absconded from the service for some years and had been on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

The press secretary to the minister, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo, in a statement on Sunday, said Maina was posted a few days go to the ministry on acting capacity.

Maina was, in 2013, dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service.

It was reported last week that Maina had been secretly recalled by President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

It was also gathered that the former chairman of presidential task force on pension reforms, who was a deputy director at the time he absconded from service, had now been promoted to the position of director in charge of Human Resources in the Ministry of Interior.

“The publication by Premium Times, which queries the re-instatement of former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, reportedly claimed that the Interior Minister was one of those behind the said re-instatement.

“It is observed that some insinuations as it concerns the Interior Minister were presented as facts, hence the compelling need to proffer some clarifications for reference purposes.

“The ex-chairman of the Presidential Task Force Team on Pension Reforms 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, 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 this publication.

“It is understood that Maina’s last posting was with the Ministry of Interior and that is probably why he was re-posted 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,” the statement read.

A source at the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, however, said Maina was never sacked or dismissed from service.

When asked if he had been recalled into civil service, the source said: “was he sacked before? In civil service, if somebody is recalled, it is either that he had been suspended or sacked.”

When insisted that he was declared wanted by the EFCC and allegedly absconded from service, the source said: “Maina was an assistant director before he was seconded to Head of Service.

“If Maina was not suspended then he is not under any punishment according to civil service rule. Secondment, according to the civil service rule, is for 15 years, subject to renewal. Has Maina exhausted the 15 years in the place he was seconded to?

“But if he was dismissed or suspended for any reason, there should be a panel that investigated him, according to the civil service rules. What was their recommendations? Was he found guilty and what were the steps taken? There are procedures in the service.”

A source at the Federal Civil Service Commission, when contacted, said it was the responsibility of the Head of Service to recommend disciplinary action on an administrative officer like Maina.

The source said it was not the duty of the commission to investigate the issue without due information from the Head of Service.

Maina was, in 2012, accused of leading a pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion when he was drafted by the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration in 2010 to sanitise the pension system.

Based on the allegation of corruption, Maina was invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration.

The Senate, after completion of its investigation, issued a warrant of arrest against Mr Maina.

Ignoring the panel, Maina went ahead to sue the Senate and the then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and thereafter went into hiding after being declared wanted by the police.

Consequent upon this, Maina was dismissed by the Head of Service for allegedly absconding from duty and attempting to evade arrest and charged to court.

He was on July 21, 2015 charged by the EFCC alongside Stephen Oronsaye and two others before a Federal High Court on a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretence.