By:Ifeanyi Izeze<\/p>\n
If filters fromthe submission by the Attorney General of the Federation
\n(AGF), AbubakarMalami, to the Senate Committee probing the reinstatement
\nof the fugitiveformer Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed
\nMaina, are real, thensome people in government may just have completely
\nlost the sense of ignominy.<\/p>\n
How do youreconcile that people in positions of trust in this
\nadministration carry on asif this country solely belongs to them?
\nDeliberately, they do the wrong thingswithout any qualms and as if that\u2019s
\nnot enough, they also go all out torationalise what to an average normal
\nhuman being would be a clear aberration.<\/p>\n
Hear Malami\u2019snarrative to the senate committee: Yes, Maina is a fugitive
\nbut we did had ameeting in Dubai during President Buhari\u2019s visit to the
\nUAE and he was able toconvince me that not only would it cost the federal
\ngovernment about N2.5billion if we lose the case he instituted against us
\nbut he also gave mecrucial information that allowed us to recover hundreds
\nof millions of Naira;that was in the public\u2019s interest. Also, it was
\nrevealed how former PresidentJonathan channelled N5 billion of pension
\nfunds every month for himself throughMaina.<\/p>\n
Do you see theman Nigeria has as its Chief Law Officer? Public\u2019s interest
\nto recover hundredsof millions when the accused himself set up the company
\nto get the money in thefirst place and was wanted for offences running
\ninto over N100 billion? Allhail my country!<\/p>\n
The AGF\u2019s accountactually got me so twisted and distracted that it became
\nmore sane to just forgetall that the man who initially stole and ran away
\nmight have done and focus on thephantom N5 billion a month presidential
\nservicing tale.<\/p>\n
Imagine the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF), meeting and
\nnegotiating with a fugitive on therun from justice in his country? What
\nkind of a country is Nigeria? How cananyone rationalize that our chief law
\nofficer knew Maina was wanted; he knewwhere to find him; but decided to
\nmake a mockery of Interpol\u2019s red notice forhim? If Malami was able to see
\nMaina, why was Interpol not able to get him(Maina) arrested and brought to
\nNigeria?<\/p>\n
The AttorneyGeneral of the Federation secretly met and entered into a
\n\u201cbusiness deal\u201d witha Nigerian fugitive hiding from Interpol; and
\nsubsequently maneuvered thefugitive\u2019s covert return without notifying
\neither the Interpol and\/or maybe theEFCC! Why did the Attorney General
\neven meet Maina in Dubai given the fact thatsuch association would
\nscandalise the Buhari administration as it eventuallydid? We really need
\nto be more serious as a country.<\/p>\n
Does Malami makeany sense? You claimed to have recovered looted funds from
\nMaina which is anadmission that you knew Maina was corrupt as alleged yet
\nyou wrote to head ofservice that such a looter be reinstated and promoted.
\nDo these people thinkthey are talking to fools?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look atthe narrative: a wanted criminal, as alleged, sought audience
\nin Dubai with topofficials of the government in power and Ibrahim Mugu,
\nthe EFCC boss and the InspectorGeneral of Police who purportedly
\nplacedthe suspect on Interpol radar were in the same presidential
\nentourage but werenot alerted. The wanted fugitive finally held
\nconsultation with the AGF (thenation\u2019s chief law officer) in presence of
\nthe National Security Adviser (NSA)and both plotted the reinstatement of
\nthe fugitive without clearance from thePresident. The fugitive was
\nsmuggled into the country and reinstated with promotionin the Ministry of
\nInterior and the minister, Danbanzau did not complain. Thenwhen Nigerians
\nraged against the opprobrium, the President \u2018\u2019ordered\u201d the sackof the
\nfugitive without ordering his arrest. Up Nigeria!<\/p>\n
Is it notglaring that President Mohammadu Buhari reinstated Maina using
\nthe AGF and theMinister of Interior? Is it possible for that level of call
\nfor reinstatementto get accomplished without superior directives from the
\nPresidency? Look atit: which official could have the power to direct
\nsecurity agencies not toarrest a wanted criminal for months if not the
\nPresident?<\/p>\n
Truth be told, justbecause of the same mindset of owning the country,
\nBuhari and his men neverknew the decision of reinstating and promoting the
\nfugitive pension fundscammer would cause the kind of outrage it did which
\nwas why he ordered the sackof the man as sacrifice but not without the
\ncaveat of also not ordering hisarrest.<\/p>\n
If not for acongratulatory message for Mr. Maina by a group called League
\nof \u2018Civil SocietyOrganisations\u2019 which commended the federal government for
\nthe reinstatement andpromotion, nobody would even have known that the same
\nman on Interpol and EFCCred alerts had resumed work with a promotion even.
\nChai Nigeria!!<\/p>\n
No doubt, fromthe very beginning, the whole idea of reinstating the
\nfugitive Maina wasplanned in Dubai during Buhari\u2019s visit and the president
\nwas aware. The idea ofalleging a N5 billion monthly servicing for the
\nformer president was merely todivert attention into creating an impression
\nof fighting corruption which theyhave discovered is the only language that
\nmakes some Nigerians lose their senseof judgement over the present
\nadministration<\/p>\n
Instead ofcoming clean on how Maina was reinstated, they are chunning out
\nall kinds oftales including how former President Jonathan attempted to
\nassassinate Maina ashe was leaving the Presidential Villa after an evening
\nappointment to cover upthe role of the former president in the pension
\nfraud. Why is our attentionbeing deliberately diverted from how Maina was
\nsurreptitiously reinstated? Havewe become so naive that we are allowing
\nourselves to be fooled by thediversionary hoax being churned out to cover
\nup the roles of the AGF and hiscohorts?<\/p>\n
As aptly askedby one of my colleagues in his comment on the reinstatement
\nscandal, why didn\u2019tMaina tell Nigerians at the onset of the scandal that
\nhe was giving formerPresident Jonathan five billion naira every month? And
\nthese revelations arecoming through the Attorney General Abubakar Malami.
\nIs Malami Maina\u2019sspokesman? Abeg make una go sit down forground jorrr!<\/p>\n