• We have extended
probe to foreign countries –Presidency
• AGF, security
agencies make presentations to Buhari
The Presidency on
Thursday said an Abuja Magistrate’s
Court as well as the international police popularly called the INTERPOL
had issued fresh warrants for the arrest of the embattled former Chairman of
the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina.
The Senior Special
Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this
in an interview with our correspondent.
Shehu said Maina’s
investigation had been extended beyond his reinstatement and subsequent
posting.
He said the
investigation would even be extended to some foreign countries.
The presidential
spokesman said, “Maina’s investigation has been expanded. This is beyond
reinstatement. It has gone beyond that.
“You know that the
INTERPOL has just issued an international warrant on him. A Nigerian court has
also issued yet another warrant of arrest.
“All those cases
involving Steve Oronsaye (former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation)
that are ongoing, you know Maina is also involved. Law enforcement agencies are
looking at that too.
“You are also aware
that the Senate is also carrying out its own investigation on the matter.
“The matter is being
investigated from all fronts. The EFCC, for example, is discovering more and more properties and
its officials are sealing them. They are also looking at banks and all that.
“In fact, this
investigation will also touch some foreign countries.”
Shehu said the security
agencies, including the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami
(SAN), were making presentations to the President on the matter.
He, however, said the
President had yet to say the final word on the matter because he wanted to be
fair to all the reports.
Meanwhile, the
Presidency has received a third report on Maina.
Our correspondent
learnt that the third report was prepared by the Acting Chairman of the Federal
Civil Service Commission.
The report was said to
have been submitted to the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
The two reports that
have earlier been submitted on the matter were those of the Head of the Civil
Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita; and the Permanent Secretary
of the Ministry of Interior.
It was learnt that
while Kyari himself wrote the Acting chairman of the FCSC, Oyo-Ita queried the
Permanent Secretary on the matter.
Oyo-Ita, in a telephone
interview with our correspondent, said she submitted her report alongside the
one prepared by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior to Kyari while
the Acting FCSC boss submitted directly to the Chief of Staff.
She insisted that the
letter reinstating Maina emanated from the FCSC and not from her.
She said, “The Chief of
Staff to the President wrote directly to the Acting chairman of the Federal
Civil Service Commission because it was the commission that sent out the
letter.
“That letter people are
saying was from the Office of the Head of Service did not come from me; it came
from the Federal Civil Service Commission.
“The only persons that
responded directly to me is the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Interior.
“I have sent my
submission and the response from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Interior to the Chief of Staff.”
When asked what was the
update from the Presidency on the matter, Oyo-Ita directed our correspondent to
the presidential spokesmen.
“I am not the right
person to ask if there is any update on it. It is the presidential spokesmen
that will know if there is any update,” she said.
Copyright PUNCH.
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