BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – Family members of the former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, on Wednesday said the sacked pension boss was begged by some officials of President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to return to work.
Addressing the press in Kaduna, spokesman of the family, Aliyu Maina, disclosed that based on the “sterling record” of Maina as arrowhead of the pension reforms in the country, some top officials of the Buhari-led government appealed to Maina to key into the “change agenda”.
The family of Maina also threatened to expose the cabal at the presidency whom they alleged was responsible for the ordeal their son is going through over his return to the civil service.
Insisting that Maina’s return to the civil service was at the instance of the Buhari Government, the family noted, “You must have noticed the recent attempt by some cabal to ridicule and tarnish the image of the Maina family in the media. Where our brother, Abdulrasheed Maina has been blackmailed as a fraudster.
“The cabals have gone to the extent of marking our house in red paints with an inscription of E.F.C.C under investigation. The EFCC is wrong in their action because Abdulrasheed inherited so many properties from his late father in Kaduna and Abuja, some of them were built before he was born. So, how did he acquire them fraudulently?
“The entire family of Abdullahi Maina is categorically stating that our son is not in any way a fraudster, rather he is a messiah who brought reforms into Nigerian Pension Scheme, whose effort saw the disappearance of pensioners roaming the streets of Abuja and other state capitals in Nigeria.
“It is on record that Abdulrasheed Maina’s reform put to a stop the fraudulent withdrawals of huge sums from both the Nigerian Pension Board, the Nigerian Police Pension Board etc. Perhaps it is this noble efforts that made him enviable to the present administration when they came into power to convince him to come back and assist in its “Change” agenda.”
“Abdulrasheed was in fact invited by this administration and he was promised security to come and clean up the mess and generate more revenue to government by blocking leakages.
“He succumbed to the present administration and came back to Nigeria. He has been working with the DSS for quite some time and he was given necessary security.
The family’s spokesman, who wondered why government officials were denying his brother when the Department of State services (DSS) provided security for him, said that Maina, who fled the country, will only “resurface when his security is guaranteed.”
According to Aliyu Maina, “As you know Abdulrasheed Maina had been a target in the past, so experience is the best teacher. But when his security is guaranteed, he will surface from wherever he is and tell Nigerians the truth,” noted the spokesman of the family, Aliyu Maina.
“All the same, we have contacted our solicitors, Messrs Mamman Nasir & Co and instructed them to act appropriately. We equally know that Abdulrasheed Maina is in possession of so facts that are against the cabal and interesting to the Nigerian populace, which he will disclose soonest. One must ask whether it is an offence for somebody to serve his fatherland.”
