President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Nigerians that he will not
sweep the case involving the embattled former pension boss, Abdulrasheed
Maina, under the carpet.
He said this on Wednesday night through his Special Adviser on Media
and Publicity, Femi Adesina, when he featured on Channels Television’s
Politics Today.
Buhari said: “As far as the government is concerned, it (Maina’s case) is an unraveling matter.
“The last you heard officially from the government was that he was
ordered to be disengaged from service and a report was asked for, that
report came in and the President has it.
“So, until the President gets back to Nigerians, you can’t say the matter is closed or it is swept under the carpet,” he added.
Maina, who was accused of mismanaging of about N2 billion pension
fund, was reinstated into the Federal Civil Service after he was
declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
His reinstatement had sparked criticism from Nigerians, a development
which some claimed prompted President Buhari to order his immediate
dismissal.
Reacting to anticipations that the government will order a probe into
the incident, Adesina said President Buhari only demanded a report on
the circumstances that led to Maina’s readmittance into the public
service.
“Nigerians love probe, you can’t call that a probe; he’s just asking
for a report that led to the circumstance, it’s not a probe,” he
insisted.
On the next action from the Presidency, the presidential aide said:
“A couple of days ago you gave a timeline on the former SGF and the
former DG NIA issue.”
“And you gave it point after point, dateline after dateline – from
the April 19 suspension to the submission of the report on August 23,
and then on October 29 you had the feedback. So, that tells you that
things are never swept under the carpet in this administration; you’ll
get a feedback on it,” he added.
Adesina also spoke on the leaked memo in which the Head of the Civil
Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, claimed she had warned
of the implication of reinstating Maina into the service when she met
with the President.
He said although he had not confirmed if the meeting truly held
between President Buhari and Oyo-Ita, he would not make any comment
until the HoS acknowledges that the memo came from her office.
“Let her authenticate what is in the public domain that it really
came from her. When she owns that memo supposedly written by her, then
we’ll take it from there,” he said.