President Muhammadu Buhari’s aides on Wednesday engaged loyalists of former President Goodluck Jonathan in fierce war of words over who was responsibl
President Muhammadu Buhari’s aides on Wednesday engaged loyalists of former President Goodluck Jonathan in fierce war of words over who was responsible for the reinstatement of the wanted ex-chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the Ministry of Interior Affairs.
The argument raged even as the family of the embattled Maina said the ex-pension boss was never a fraudster but a messiah whose efforts had put smiles on the faces of pensioners in the FCT and other parts of the country. Maina, who was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over alleged N2bn fraud, appeared in the country last month and was reinstated into the civil service with promotion.
But following the public outcry against the reinstatement, Buhari on Monday ordered the termination of Maina’s appointment; and on Tuesday, the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission sealed off some of his houses.
Reacting to the developments, the spokesman of Maina’s family, Alhaji Aliyu Maina, told newsmen in Kaduna on Wednesday that it was the APC-led administration that facilitated Maina’s return to come back and assist its change agenda. He insisted that a ‘cabal’ was out to tarnish the image of Maina in the media, noting that the family was in possession of facts that were against the cabal, which would be of great interest to the public. Those facts, he promised, would be disclosed to Nigerians soon.
Meanwhile, the Presidency alleged that some influential government officials loyal to the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan were responsible for the reinstatement of Maina into the service. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, reacting to a statement by the Peoples Democratic Party on the matter said, “Some influential officials loyal to the previous government may have been the invisible hand in the latest scandal that saw the return of Maina to the public service, despite being on the EFCC’s wanted list. Everything will be uncovered in due course. This just goes to show us the scale of corruption that this government is fighting. And, as we can all see, corruption keeps fighting back viciously.”
The PDP had in a statement said it was not surprised that the present administration could reinstate Maina, describing them as birds of a feather. The party had said, “It is in the light of this that the PDP wishes to state that we are not too shocked at the steps taken by the administration of the All Progressives Congress in reinstating a supposed criminal and fugitive, Abdulrasheed Maina to office instead of getting him arrested. Birds of a feather flock together.”
However, former President Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party have described President Muhammadu Buhari’s allegations as untrue. They wondered whether those who wrote letters to Maina, asking him to resume work at the Ministry of Interior were appointed by the former president or the PDP. Jonathan, who spoke though his media aide, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, said the claim by the Presidency was ridiculous.
He said, “It is ridiculous to say that Jonathan’s loyalists brought Maina back into service. Is it his loyalists that are in government? Somebody who has left office over two years, his loyalists still brought in a fugitive to power? It is laughable. Is it his loyalists that also promoted him and made him an acting director from the position of an assistant director? These are the questions they should answer.
“It is funny. It doesn’t make any sense. Is it Jonathan’s men that reinstated him into office, wrote a letter to him and asked him to return to work? This was a fugitive that ran away from Jonathan’s government and it was Jonathan’s men who also put him in office? Someone who ran from the law? It doesn’t make sense.”
The PDP, in its reaction, asked Nigerians to continue to ignore the government, saying it had lost its bearing.
Punch
