— 19th December 2017
Continued from Friday
From Kenny Ashaka and Noah Ebije, Kaduna
In this
concluding part of the interview, former Chairman of the dissolved
Pension Reform (PRTF), Abdulrasheed Maina explains why pension thieves
must be prosecuted.
Now I am going to show documents to show
that I had nothing to do with the N2.1 billion. Now this is the contract
for biometric payment to Innovative Solutions. The money was N161,475.
The person who wrote the letter was K.M Lawal (Mrs.), Director of
Pensions. This was on 10th June, 2010. That was the beginning of the
biometric and it was recommended by Charles Bonnat who was the permanent
Secretary, ERO and approved by the Head of Service. This is one of the
documents. Where is Maina here? Why did I become part of the N2.1
billion that was spent? I was not part of any N2.1 billion. They just
want to link me up with that. They even took my secretary, old secretary
and detained her for 10 days because she refused to write a lie and
gave her a document to write. And they coerced her, gave her a document
that she must write. She told me the names of the people who coerced
her, one Rukaiyat Ibrahim, that’s what I heard, Habibu Adamu Aliyu, one
Mr. Fagarinya and one other Yoruba person. She told me. Her family
called me and told me this is what is happening to your secretary. They
called her and coerced and said ‘look, we have been given an assignment
to do, that you must write something against Maina, whatever it is. You
collected money and gave to Maina.’ Who gave me money? Okay somebody
told them he gave me a cheque and that he is a contractor and he gave me
a cheque. In this age, somebody is saying he gave me money?
Let me ask you, is the EFCC not part of all these?
(Cuts in) They are part and parcel of all.
If they are part of it why would they be looking for you?
Now let me show you why the EFCC is part
of the biometric exercise. This is a memo that they want to pay DTA of
N56 million for police, EFCC, ICPC and DSS staff. Now, a chunk of the
members going out for biometric capture are EFCC staff. I have their
names. I have their account numbers. The same thing N104 million, Mr.
K.M Lawal she wrote to the Head of Service through her permanent
secretary, her permanent secretary recommended and Head of Service
approved. She took the money and gave to EFCC staff and whoever that
travelled. What has Maina got to do with that? This is another sample.
This is another sample of how…this is biometric money. How much is this?
This was given to Adamson. Adamson is a personal assistant to Mrs. K.M
Lawal. Here is his name. This is how they were spreading the money. She
wrote it and the permanent secretary approved because the Head of
Service travelled. This is even the document for the biometric. The
same; so how come that Maina is being accused of biometric that I know
nothing about? Who gave me the money? Where did the money come in from?
Secondly, this is the document for the contract for the biometric. The
person who applied was K.M Lawal. Charles Bonnat who was the Permanent
Secretary was the one who recommended and Head of Service approved. This
is N65 million. This is N70 million for EFCC. Look at… it is for EFCC,
ICPC personnel. Out of this N175 million, N56 was paid out to
EFCC, ICPC, police, CIPPO, DSS, Head of
Service , Customs, Immigration, prisons, Civil Defense,
Attorney-General’s office, Accountant-General office staff. All these
people were those going for the biometrics. You can now see all these
things are biometrics. Now, how then did I come to spending these
monies? Let me tell you, these people in the pension office of the EFCC
were asked to ensure that they nail Maina by any means possible. The
next thing is that after I gave the federal government the intelligence
and they got N1.3 trillion, I came back. I was working between the
office of the Attorney-General’s Office and the security agencies…
(Cuts in) Let’s clear this point. Was it after you came back that you realised the N1.3 trillion?
That was even before I came back. I gave
the intelligence. The Minister of Justice said it at the Senate
hearing. He told them. I never wanted to talk about it, but because he
said it that is why I am repeating it. Even the other recoveries I made I
will never discuss it. It is left for government to say. I will never
say it. It is because the Minister mentioned the N1.3 trillion that is
why I am talking about it. After I came back, this process of
reinstating me was taking place and the court judgement was sent to
civil service commission. They sat down, had a meeting and they sent it
to the Head of Service. The Head of Service held a meeting and sent to
the Minister of Interior; the Minister of Interior sat down and they
came out with their report. (showing the report of the senior staff
committee of the Ministry of Interior); the same thing with the Head of
Service senior staff committee. All these people I do not even know any
one of them. I think they are… how many of them (reaches out to the
document again). They are about 25 of them. I do not know them. They sat
down and decided that, but in 2012, they were coerced to remove me. It
was not done right so they decided now that I should return. So they did
it and sent it to the Head of Service. The Head of Service Senior staff
committee met and when they finished they sent it to the civil service
committee. They met, discussed and decided ‘Okay let us return this guy
back to his office like the court directed based on the recommendation
of the senior staff committee of the Ministry of Interior and Head of
Service, not based on the Minister’s letter.’
Let me correct this. The Minister only
conveyed the court order to the civil service commission. The civil
service commission sat down… they are intelligent people and they are
independent of the office of the Minister. So they sat down and realised
that something wrong happened. So they now went and rectified it. They
rectified it and reposted me to the same ministry that I left. I left
Ministry of Interior as deputy director. Nobody promoted me. Nobody
promoted me to the position of director. They advised that I should take
the next promotion examination. Now, I am only trying to ask you do the
right thing. The president wants us to sanitise this country; let’s
help the president, give him the right advice; let him know exactly what
is happening. I have documents to show where monies can be retrieved. I
have staff, informants and a lot of people. Listen to me. This idea of
whistle blowing stuff, the Association of whistle blowers came to me and
met me in one of the security agencies’ office and told me that they
have not been paid and they want me to come in. They gave me a lot of
information. I looked at the information and realised that I also had
those information. Now, if somebody can go and get N1.6 trillion; now
you sit down, you do not have a job other than paint my father’s house;
my father who died almost 20 years ago, you are painting his house. That
tells you that you are waiting for somebody. That tells everybody now
that you are working for somebody because if you are attacking me, go to
any property that is mine. I am only telling you some of the rhetoric.
People do not know the politics behind it.
There is one
thing I want to clarify. The Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu came on air
and said that he was going to go to Dubai, Uk, America and he is going
to fetch Maina and bring him back…
(Cuts in) That day I laughed. You know
why I laughed. I laughed because Nigerians were being taken for a ride.
How could Magu that I respect so much say that? But he lied. How can you
say you are going to fetch me in Dubai, USA, UK when you know I am here
in Nigeria with you. When you know I have been in Nigeria for ages.
When you know I have been working with you; common, common. I am tired
of this and I feel I am not getting justice.
You were given an office when they reinstated you, is that correct?
So, what do you want the presidency to do?
I am saying that why is it that the
former SGF and other big personalities were accused of stealing monies,
including big personalities in the Villa, nobody is talking about them.
Maina who is just a deputy director whom the Minister of Justice has
said the DSS has cleared of any wrongdoing. The National Security
Adviser has cleared me of any wrongdoing. His office has also cleared
me. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution has
cleared
me of any wrongdoing and that I have no
case to answer and then a small unit under the ministry will come and
start fighting me for N2.1 billion. Now, let’s take the issue of N2.1
billion. Now, I want the Federal Government to pay me five percent
because this N1.3 trillion, I gave the government while I was not in
office. So pay me the five percent of the N1.3 trillion, remove the N2.1
billion and give me the balance. This is what I am asking. So are we
trying to fight corruption in Nigeria or diverting attention by lying to
Mr. President? Listen to me, Mr. President would have achieved more
than what he has achieved. But because they are lying to Mr. President
because they hate Maina, he won’t be able to achieve more. You hate me. I
know why you hate me. You hate me because I am somebody who is bold. I
know how to fetch the money. I know how to follow the money. I know the
money routes and somebody said to me the other time ‘why don’t I go and
head the …and I said ‘I can’t go there because it is something I can do
on my system, sitting down because I have the relevant software to go
after these monies.’
We have talented people in Nigeria. Let’s
start harnessing these talents and stop all these bickering and stuff
out of the system. Nigerians have elected a very decent man as president
and has given you the trust, please stop lying to him. Speak the truth
and let’s move forward. We have so much to recover.
So what is happening to the pension thieves? Where are they? Are they still there?
Nigerians I want to say this. These 43
pension thieves are still standing trials. They have been standing trial
for the last six years. You know why? EFCC staff tampered with the
evidences because they don’t want these people to be prosecuted. I
offered to be a star witness to get conviction because I have the
documents to show to get conviction. They don’t want me. You know why?
Because they know if I get there these people will be convicted. You
know why? Because they have collected monies from these guys. You know
why? Because they took their houses and gave to their Nephews, brothers,
staff and sold some to some people and so on. Now, they will never want
to see Maina. They hate Maina like anything. I am the least person…let
me ask you a question, If ICPC can arrest somebody, who arrests ICPC
operatives if he does something wrong? If I want to get immuned, I just
go and engage in problem with ICPC and I start stealing because nobody
comes after them because that is the height of the authority. No law
enforcement agency is above the EFCC. None! It is wrong.
But the Senate has the powers to question the activities of the EFCC.
I don’t want to
get into that politics because that is political. Me I can only talk
about what I know and what I can do for Nigeria.
Conculded