By Emmanuel Mogbede, Aminu Ahmed Garko
The All Progressives Congress, APC, has said that the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, into the Federal Civil Service was an embarrassment to the Federal Government.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated this while speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the development was unacceptable and also embarrassing to the party.
Maina was said to have been dismissed from the Federal Civil Service for abandoning his duty post and evading arrest for his involvement in the looting of pension funds to the tune of N100 billion.
“We are all shocked like any other person. It is almost unbelievable that such a thing can happen.
“However, we are all delighted that President Muhammadu Buhari has taken very decisive punitive action against those that are involved.
“We are also delighted that he has ordered full scale investigation into the circumstances that led to this individual to be reinstated into the public office,’’ he said.
Abdullahi said that the APC believed that those that were part or found to be part of the development would face appropriate consequences.
He, however, debunked insinuations that the president was shielding the suspended Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal and the Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Mr Ayo Oke, over corruption investigations.
The APC spokesman expressed confidence that the president would do what was necessary and right under the situations in the best interest of the nation.
“Action will definitely be taken on them. I think we should just be kind and wait for the president to take action on that before we come to the conclusion that he has not acted,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Malam Bashir Yankuzu, a lecturer at the Federal University of Technology Minna, on Tuesday commended President Buhari for the removal of Malam Maina, former head of a presidential task force, from the Federal Civil Service.
Maina, who was Chairman of the defunct Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms, was in 2012 accused of pension fraud and declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC).
NAN reports that Maina, an Assistant Director, allegedly absconded from the country in 2013 and returned to public service as a Director.
Yankuzu told NAN in Minna that the decision would promote the government’s position on the ongoing fight against corruption in the country.
He said that majority of Nigerians had never lost confidence in the President’s honesty or ability to lead the nation and to fight corruption.
“Though, fighting corruption has been acknowledged to be a herculean task, what has been worrying many Nigerians is the slow nature of the fight.”
He said that the Federal Government should show more political commitment in the ongoing fight by ensuring diligent prosecution of all indicted persons.
Yankuzu, of the Department of Science Education, said that corruption on pension matters required the step taken by the President.
“Due to problems related to pension and gratuity, retirement has remained a scary word to almost all civil servants, especially the honest ones and those that have no opportunity to serve in a lucrative sector.
“The rate at which pensioners are dying and getting more frustrated is sympathetic that no leader that cares can afford to refuse doing anything that could help to resolve the situation,” he said.
