President Muhammadu
Buhari has assured Nigerians that he will not sweep the case involving the
embattled former pension boss, Abdulrasheed Maina, under the carpet.
He said this on
Wednesday night through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi
Adesina, when he featured on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Buhari said: “As far as
the government is concerned, it (Maina’s case) is an unraveling matter.
“The last you heard
officially from the government was that he was ordered to be disengaged from
service and a report was asked for, that report came in and the President has
it.
“So, until the
President gets back to Nigerians, you can’t say the matter is closed or it is
swept under the carpet,” he added.
Maina, who was accused
of mismanaging of about N2 billion pension fund, was reinstated into the
Federal Civil Service after he was declared wanted by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
His reinstatement had
sparked criticism from Nigerians, a development which some claimed prompted
President Buhari to order his immediate dismissal.
Reacting to
anticipations that the government will order a probe into the incident, Adesina
said President Buhari only demanded a report on the circumstances that led to
Maina’s readmittance into the public service.
“Nigerians love probe,
you can’t call that a probe; he’s just asking for a report that led to the
circumstance, it’s not a probe,” he insisted.
On the next action from
the Presidency, the presidential aide said: “A couple of days ago you gave a
timeline on the former SGF and the former DG NIA issue.”
“And you gave it point
after point, dateline after dateline – from the April 19 suspension to the
submission of the report on August 23, and then on October 29 you had the
feedback. So, that tells you that things are never swept under the carpet in
this administration; you’ll get a feedback on it,” he added.
Adesina also spoke on
the leaked memo in which the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs
Winifred Oyo-Ita, claimed she had warned of the implication of reinstating
Maina into the service when she met with the President.
He said although he had
not confirmed if the meeting truly held between President Buhari and Oyo-Ita,
he would not make any comment until the HoS acknowledges that the memo came
from her office.
“Let her authenticate
what is in the public domain that it really came from her. When she owns that
memo supposedly written by her, then we’ll take it from there,” he said.
Credit: Daily Post
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