- The attorney general of the federation and minister of justice Abubakar Malami said he recently had a meeting with ex-pension boss Abdulrasheed Maina
- Malami said the discussion happened to be very meaningful, particularly from the point of national interest
- He, however, noted that President Buhari was not aware of the meeting until he informed him
The attorney general of the federation and minister of justice Abubakar Malami said the controversial recall of Abdulrasheed Maina into the federal civil service won’t affect the reputation of President Muhammadu Buhari and his anti-corruption war.
Punch reports that Malami said he told President Buhari about his meeting with the wanted Maina, long before the news of Maina’s reinstatement was made public.
He, however, said he did not inform the President prior to the meeting.
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Malami said: ''Where is the corruption element in the reinstatement of Maina, assuming without conceding that Maina was indeed reinstated? Are you insinuating that certain corrupt undertones were prevailing? What damage is there against the President as far as this scenario is and pension syndicate is concerned?”
“It boils down to whether I have indeed acted or I have not. If hundreds of Mainas that believe they had information to offer as far as the protection of the national interest is concerned, I will meet them and I will do so again.
''At the time the meeting was held (with Maina), president was not aware. But much later, after we returned back home, I took president into confidence about the information and sought for leave to share it with other agencies with the purpose of blocking leakages.
''That was the extent to which the President was aware of the information. He came to be aware of the meeting with Maina much later. It was out of the desire to seek for his directives relating to the information in terms of its application for the purpose of blocking leakages associated with the looting of pension funds.
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''The NSA and I met with him (Maina) at the reception of the Emirate Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. He came along with his wife. We were not aware that he was in the company of his wife. He later told me that he was apprehensive, so his wife was lurking around and in the case of any eventuality, she could relate what actually happened. So we discussed.
''The discussion happened to be very meaningful, particularly from the point of national interest. It was a time that Maina intimated us to the fact that there exists a cartel, a syndicate within the pension scheme.
''The truth of the matter is that what was been paid as pension on a monthly basis was around N5bn or so. But the actual figure required for pension settlement per month was within the range of N1.3bn. The implication of what he was saying was that around N3.7bn or so went into personal pockets.''
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that the head of the civil service of the federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita said no one had faced disciplinary action over the controversial recall of Abdulrasheed Maina because the issue was before a court.
Maina who was a former chairman of the presidential task force on pension reforms was reinstated into the civil service in a move that sparked controversy across the country.
Oyo-Ita spoke on Tuesday, January 23, saying no one has been punished yet as investigations were still ongoing, both at the presidency and the National Assembly.
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Source: Naija.ng