The Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has said that there is no
“element
of corruption” in the reinstatement of the chairman of the defunct
Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina into the federal
civil service.
He disclosed that he told President
Muhammadu Buhari about his meeting with Mr. Maina, long before the news of his
reinstatement was made public, adding that it would not in any way dent the
reputation of President Muhammadu Buhari and his anti-corruption war.
The AGF made this statement while
speaking on The Interview, a magazine published monthly, where he also stated
that he did not inform the president prior to the meeting.
When asked if he did not think
the reinstatement of Mr. Maina would affect the image of the president and his
anti-corruption war, he said:
“Where is the corruption element
in the reinstatement of Maina, assuming without conceding that Maina was indeed
reinstated? Are you insinuating that certain corrupt undertones were
prevailing? What damage is there against the president as far as this scenario
is and pension syndicate is concerned?”
The minister said that although
he did not directly ensure the reinstatement of Mr. Maina, he, however, kept
the information secret from the public because of the “cynicism of Nigerians.”
“At the time the meeting was held
(with Maina), Mr. President was not aware. But much later, after we returned
back home, I took Mr. President into confidence about the information and
sought for leave to share it with other agencies with the purpose of blocking
leakages.
“That was the extent to which the
President was aware of the information. He came to be aware of the meeting with
Maina much later. It was out of the desire to seek for his directives relating
to the information in terms of its application for the purpose of blocking
leakages associated with the looting of pension funds,” he said.
He also revealed that the
National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, was also present at the meeting
with Mr. Maina in Dubai, adding that he also informed the Director General of
the State Security Services, SSS, Lawal Daura, as well and that all the
officials agreed that the meeting was in order.
“The NSA and I met with him
(Maina) at the reception of the Emirate Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. He came
along with his wife. We were not aware that he was in the company of his wife.
He later told me that he was apprehensive, so his wife was lurking around and
in the case of any eventuality, she could relate what actually happened. So we
discussed.
“The discussion happened to be
very meaningful, particularly from the point of national interest. It was a
time that Maina intimated us to the fact that there exists a cartel, a
syndicate within the pension scheme.
“The truth of the matter is that
what was being paid as pension on a monthly basis was around N5 billion or so.
But the actual figure required for pension settlement per month was within the
range of N1.3 billion. The implication of what he was saying was that around
N3.7 billion or so went into personal pockets”, he said.
Mr. Malami said that Mr. Maina
told him that that there were 66 accounts that were being used to divert
pension funds, adding that the pension syndicate had bought a section of the
media.
He further said that on returning
to Nigeria, investigations revealed that most of the information provided by
Mr. Maina was right as it led to the conviction of two individuals and the
recovery of looted funds while 12 other cases were pending.
Mr. Malami, however, did not
reveal the identities of the convicts.
The AGF stressed that he would
never resign due to the Maina saga.
“It boils down to whether I have
indeed acted or I have not. If hundreds of Mainas that believe they had
information to offer as far as the protection of the national interest is
concerned, I will meet them and I will do so again,” he said.
When asked why the Federal
Government had refused to release the leader of the Islamic Movement of
Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, he claimed the overall interest of the public must
be considered before obeying court orders.
He added that this was the same
reason the embattled former NSA, Sambo Dasuki, was being kept in custody
despite several court orders.
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