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For those who might glance through this write-up with a bored yawn, I implore you not to. Former Chairman, Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina and his cloak and dagger entreaties with the law enforcement agencies in this country are the stuff of a Nollywood blockbuster. The name has been hogging the headlines for so long that people have grown tired of him and his dreary story. The shock value of his alleged crime (theft of at least N2bn pension funds) has understandably waned over time, even though it should continue to exercise all of us. A man engaged in a brazen larceny, with such overwhelming weight of evidence against him, yet, remains a free man.
He had previously ‘escaped’ justice through the most inauspicious network of facilitators in high places, but was later ‘captured’ and brought back only for him to ‘escape’ again the moment the noose tightens. The man who stood surety for him, Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South, Borno State), was remanded in prison, but has now been released on bail. He is set to lose the N500 million house he put up for Maina’s bail, unless the fugitive suddenly shows up from his rabbit hole. Now, what has the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, got to do with any of this? Well, he is the original enabler of Maina’s. He is the one whose unwise intervention and contact with Maina made his re-absorption into the civil service possible. Consequently, the spotlight on Ndume’s prison travails at this junction is an exotic sideshow, and a red herring.
It follows, therefore, that the investigative press should not give a free pass to Malami on this. After all, he has been busy pointing fingers and identifying wrongdoings in others. Remember, he is the one who threw the former acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, to the wolves. He is currently under interrogation with the real prospect of a prison term hanging over his head. For Malami though, there is no better illustration of a man living in a glass house, yet, happy to throw stones. Maina’s ‘escape’ from justice is extraordinary to say the least. He has been playing hide and seek with the law enforcement since 2013. He first fled to a hidden location in Dubai, (the favourite haven for converting corrupt assets from Nigeria), around 2013/2014, following which he was declared wanted by the EFCC in 2015. This is where it got really bizarre. Malami secretly flew to Dubai to meet with the fugitive from the law, for ‘talks’, following which he subsequently sneaked back into the country, and got the criminal case against him withdrawn on Malami’s intervention. This infuriated the EFCC and Magu in particular. But, there is more to this Houdini of modern times. Maina was reabsorbed into the civil service hierarchy with backdated pay, with the help of his confidant, the Attorney General of the Federation. The EFCC and other security agencies later fought back and made another attempt at his apprehension, whereupon, he disappeared into thin air again. There is more – still.
Back in October 2017, the National Assembly’s combined Committees on Public Service, Internal Affairs, Anti-Corruption, Establishment and Judiciary decided (separately, and pari passu) to wade into the matter, including the probe of the Attorney General’s role, and Maina’s whereabouts. Malami then rushed an “ex-parte” (without notice) application to court pleading for a halt to the investigation as it was “outside the competence” of the lawmakers. I mean, seriously? A probe of billions of missing public funds being “outside the competence” of the lawmakers? That was the cheeky submission the Attorney General put before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, on January 8, 2018, in Abuja. The noble Justice, of course, took a different view, ordering instead, that the National Assembly be properly put on notice of the suit so they could be represented in a case of such magnitude. As this column noted at the time, truth indeed, can be stranger than fiction (See; “Maina: Villain or fall guy”? The PUNCH, January 16, 2018).
Maina’s disappearing acts have been nothing short of mindboggling. His name was removed from the civil service list when he received his ‘last’ pay in February 2013, according to official records. Following that, the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service stated that no trace of him leaving the country could be found. And, whilst being declared “wanted” by the EFCC, a deputy director inside the same organisation surreptitiously removed his name from the wanted list. Maina then audaciously approached the Department for State Services for “protection”, which was duly granted. That paved the way for his ‘escape’ to Dubai. Maina subsequently made contact with Malami, requesting that the two meet (under four eyes) to swap notes on some juicy revelations. Rather than Malami making it clear to Maina that he was a fugitive from the law, and asking for his swift return to the country, he flew over to meet with him at his hideout in Dubai. For that alone, Malami is guilty of poor judgement at best, and at worst, complicity in the case. He said he had only gone to see Maina having taken advice from the DSS. The plot thickens.
Malami said publicly that he had gone to meet with a fugitive from the law because of his belief that he held some information which might be useful in the unravelling of an ongoing investigation into a former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He then claimed the information garnered from Maina had indeed saved the country over a trillion naira without tendering any proof. The least he can do for the sake of transparency is to name the former President under his investigation. Thereafter, Malami felt obliged to remove the criminal warrant on Maina, and facilitated his return into the good books of the Federal Civil Service. Indeed, Maina was re-instated with double promotion to Deputy Director in the Ministry of the Interior. The entire apparatus of the state was put at his feet, and his sins quickly wiped off. Or, so it seemed.
Somebody, somewhere, within the corridors of power, had an unresolved grudge. Someone, somewhere, seemed to have been schemed out, and was determined to get even. Consequently, Maina’s transgressions were quietly whispered into the ears of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who promptly ordered his removal from office. The then Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, was put in the spotlight for ‘sleeping on duty’, as it were. How can a well-known fugitive sign off from the service, and reabsorbed with such aplomb, and without the knowledge of the boss? All kinds of recriminations and finger-pointing began in earnest. Just about every government machinery got their fingers burnt in the saga, but no one has really faced the music thus far.
It appears, prima facie, that Malami has obstructed justice in some way, in respect of Maina, who has performed his latest disappearing act, this same month of November 2020. He has, once again, been declared “wanted” by the EFCC. Maina has executed his escape, this time, at the expense of a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is equally clear that, there is a determined effort to block Maina from giving evidence in open court for fear that he might spill the proverbial beans. Malami is a powerful figure in President Buhari’s innermost sanctum, no doubt. All the more reason he must provide a full, unadulterated account of his involvement with Maina. He remains knee-deep in dishonour until he does.
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