About 24 hours after information leaked
that President Muhammadu Buhari was in the know about the questionable
reinstatement of a dismissed pension fraud suspect into the civil
service, the presidency has refused to speak on the matter.
The
allegations that Mr. Buhari was briefed of the scheme to surreptitiously
recall Abdulrasheed Maina, a fugitive from justice, were raised in an
internal memo by the Head of Civil Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita —
signalling an escalation in the scandal and its growing impact on the
president’s avowed ‘war on corruption.’ “I sought an audience with His Excellency, Mr. President
on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, after the FEC meeting where I briefed
His Excellency verbally on the wide-ranging implications of the
reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina, especially the damaging impact on the
anti-corruption stance of this administration,” Mrs. Oyo-Ita said in the
memo to Mr. Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
The Punch
Newspapers published the October 23 correspondence Tuesday morning,
lending the strongest corroboration yet to an earlier suggestion by
Sahara Reporters that Mr. Buhari knew about the Maina affair but was
only feigning ignorance to hoodwink the public.
PREMIUM TIMES on
October 20 broke the story of Mr. Maina’s dubious return to civil
service after years of being on the run, sending shockwaves through the
nation and placing the administration’s conduct under renewed public
criticism and scrutiny.
If the president was carried along by
Attorney-General Abubakar Malami and Interior Minister Abdulrahman
Dambazau —the two officials at the heart of the recall— it would be
difficult for him to yield to public demand to fire either or both of
them.
Mrs. Oyo-Ita’s memo was probably her response to Mr.
Buhari’s demand that the top civil servant put together a report
detailing how Mr. Maina sneaked back into public service.
Mr.
Buhari summoned the report when he demanded an expedited dismissal of
Mr. Maina from service on October 23, an uncharacteristically swift
response to public outrage that led many to assume that the scandal also
caught the president by surprise.
Presidential spokespersons,
Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, declined comments about Mrs. Oyo-Ita’s
allegations against the president Tuesday. Despite repeated efforts by
PREMIUM TIMES throughout the day, the presidency failed to categorically
say what Mr. Buhari might know.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
While
Mrs. Oyo-Ita’s memo might have added further hints into the possible
involvement of Mr. Buhari in the controversial recall; it was silent on a
host of questions that could be considered crucial to bringing the
scandal to closure.
For instance, the Head of Service didn’t say what Mr. Buhari’s response was when she warned him about the Maina affair.
Secondly,
Mrs. Oyo-Ita said she first learnt of the scheme as far back as
February, but she also didn’t say why she had to wait until October 11
to verbally mention the matter to Mr. Buhari. Based on a narration
prepared by the Federal Civil Service Commission, Mr. Maina was
reinstated on September 28, indicating that Mrs. Oyo-Ita only raised
concerns after the suspicious reinstatement had been concluded.
Also,
considering the civil service culture of written communication, Mrs.
Oyo-Ita was expected to have formally notified Mr. Buhari of her
reservations concerning the reinstatement.
Administration
officials told PREMIUM TIMES it was appropriate to verbally mention
issues to the president during meetings, but it is usually done as a
follow-up or a passing reminder about a pending written request. If
there was any written communication between Mrs. Oyo-Ita and Mr. Buhari
before the scandal broke, she didn’t specify in the memo.
Even
when Mr. Buhari was warned late, he didn’t seem to have taken any action
to immediately take steps that would have saved his administration the
scandal. Mr. Buhari had nine days between October 11 when Mrs.
Oyo-Ita put him on the notice and October 20 when PREMIUM TIMES blew the
lid of Messrs. Malami and Dambazau’s machinations. It, however, took
the president only three days of public backlash after the story broke
to demand Mr. Maina’s sack and query Mrs. Oyo-Ita.
Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau A spokesperson for the Head of Service, Muhammed Manga, said he won’t comment on a leaked internal communication.
The
Punch memo also showed Mrs. Oyo-Ita standing her ground that her office
did not partake in the reinstatement, contrary to a claim by Mr.
Dambazau that she approved the posting of Mr. Maina to the Interior.
FULL DISCLOSURE
Mr.
Maina was dismissed from service in 2013 during the Goodluck Jonathan
administration for absconding from office following allegations that he
diverted billions in public funds for his own use when he headed the
pension reform task force.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission subsequently moved to arrest and prosecute him, but Mr.
Maina, who was fired as an assistant director, bolted from the law.
He
was believed to have fled to Dubai, where he had remained until the
Buhari administration facilitated his return under questionable
circumstances this year. Out of the 34-count charge which EFCC filed
against a former Head of Civil Service, Steve Oronsaye, over pension
fraud, Mr. Maina featured in 27. EFCC sources said he couldn’t be
charged because he had been on the run.
“The consequences of the
gross breach of public trust in the reinstatement of Mr. Maina could
only be minimised if the president comes clean on the scandal,” said a
political analyst and automobile expert, Gbola Oba. Mr. Oba said Mr.
Buhari and his aides are not helping themselves by keeping quiet and
would “be mistaken if they think they could wait out this humongous
scandal that others before it.” “It’s true that Nigerians have become
tired of regular scandals in public service, but this one would likely
be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” Mr. Oba told
PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Tuesday night. “The Head of Service has
indicted the president, it’s time for him to tell Nigerians his side.”
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