Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is expected to take over custody of the Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, from the Department of State Services (DSS), this week.
Maina, who had been on the wanted list of the EFCC for the past four years for N2.1 billion pension fraud, was apprehended by the DSS operatives shortly after entering the country from his Dubai base.
A senior EFCC official confirmed to newsmen on Tuesday that the ex-Director, Human Resources Department, Ministry of Interior, would soon be handed over to the anti-graft agency for interrogation and arraignment for pension fraud.
The source stated, “I can confirm that Maina is still with the DSS, but we are expecting them to hand him over to us soon. No date has been fixed yet, but he may be transferred to us this week for prosecution.”
The ex-Director had been charged alongside a former head of service, Steve Oronsaye, Osarenkhoe Afe, Fredrick Hamilton and Global Services Ltd. before a Federal High Court on a 24-count bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretence in July 2015 but he absconded from the country shortly after.
Punch had reported that Maina had been visiting the country regularly from his base in the United Arab Emirates despite being under surveillance and on the watchlist of security agencies.
He subsequently met with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, in Dubai in 2016, during which he was reportedly assured of his safety in Nigeria.
Following the assurances, Maina was reinstated in the civil service and was consequently promoted as Director, Human Resources Department, the Ministry of Interior, without sitting for the mandatory promotion examination.
Malami in November 2017, admitted before a Senate ad hoc panel probing Maina’s reinstatement into the civil service that he met with the former PRTT boss in Dubai.
Against the backdrop of the revelations, President Muhammadu Buhari, ordered the sacking of the director and the Senate set up an ad-hoc committee to determine the circumstances that led to the return of Maina to the country and his reinstatement into the service despite being on the security watchlist.
But the report of the committee headed by Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishments and Public Services, Senator Emmanuel Paulker (PDP, Bayelsa Central), was not released till the tenure of the eight Senate lapsed.
Maina had in January 2019, secured a court order stopping the EFCC from declaring him wanted. Justice Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court described the action of the anti-graft agency in declaring Maina wanted as unlawful, but the commission reportedly filed an appeal against the order.
When contacted about the expected transfer of Maina, the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, said he cannot confirm the date this would be done.