Muhammadu Buhari Fires Ex-pension Boss, Abdulrasheed Maina, Queries Head Of Service

Eniola Olayemi

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the immediate disengagement of a former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, from service.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, said the President’s directive was contained in a memo to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita

Mr Adesina stated that the President equally demanded a full report of the circumstances of Mr Maina’s recall and posting to the Ministry of Interior.

According to the presidential aide, the report is to be submitted to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, before the end of work today.

The Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (Rtd), had on October 22 confirmed the resumption of duty by Maina as an acting director in his ministry.

The confirmation came in a statement issued by the press secretary to the minister, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo.

Maina was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as chairman of the task force in 2010 to check the corruption in the country’s pension system.

In 2012, the Nigeria Police accused him of misappropriating N100 billion pension funds in connivance with others.

The Civil Service Commission reportedly dismissed him for “absconding from duty”.

Maina was arraigned in absentia by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which declared him wanted in 2015.

Spokesman of the anti-graft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, in a statement at the weekend, said Maina remained on the commission’s wanted list.

Sunday’s confirmation by the minister followed reports in the online media that Maina had been secretly re-instated and promoted to the rank of director in the ministry.