The legal counsel for the former Chairman, Presidential Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, Mohammed Katu, told the House of Representatives on Thursday that his client was still receiving salaries despite the report that he had been dismissed from service.
He also claimed that Maina treated official files up to last month (October).
Maina was not physically present as an ad hoc committee of the House opened its investigative hearing into the disappearance and reinstatement of Maina into the public service in Abuja.
The committee is chaired by a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC from Kano State, Aliyu Madaki.
Katu claimed that his client was not dismissed from service and that he only sought judicial intervention in 2013 when he realised that there was a move to dismiss him from service.
He added that while the litigation was in progress, Maina “disappeared” from Nigeria because his life was in danger.
“He was still working as of June 13th, 2013 after the purported dismissal. He was writing to the Minister of Finance (former Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala); so, it is not true that he was dismissed.”
According to Katu, his client was still receiving his salaries and emoluments “and he got piles of files to treat up to a month ago.”
He added, “Maina is still receiving salaries. 23 files were sent to him in his capacity as acting director, even while he was absent. Maina has continued to work even after he was dismissed.”
However, when a member of the committee, Mrs. Ayo Omidiran, quoted a 2014 letter Maina wrote to the Federal Civil Service Commission, pleading for a review of his dismissal, Katu insisted that his client was still in service.
Omidiran stated, “We are not children here, and let the impression not be created that those of us sitting on this committee do not know what we are doing.
“If Maina wrote to the FCSC to appeal for a review of his dismissal, why would you be saying that he was not dismissed?
But, Katu replied, “There are things we have with us and we will submit them when next we come.”
When asked again, Katu insisted that as far as his client was concerned, he was still in the service.
The committee took the testimonies of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the members were in shock when the AGF denied that he ordered the reinstatement of Maina into service.
The Federal Civil Service and the Ministry of Interior had acted on a directive from the AGF’s office to reinstate the former pension task force chairman.
As of the time he was recalled to office on September 28, 2017, Maina was on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the police for alleged abuse of pensions funds.
But, Malami, who appeared before the panel in Abuja, claimed that, though a review of Maina’s case by his office was on course, he never finalised his recall.
He said, “My position is that as of 5th of October, Maina’s case was work in progress and not concluded. It was KIV (Keep in View).
“So, the letter giving specific directive on his reinstatement could not have genuinely emanated from my office.”
The AGF, who claimed to be as surprised as everyone to hear that he ordered the reinstatement, told the panel that an internal investigation had begun at the ministry to unravel the seeming mystery.
“A committee has been set up to find out how the process was concluded without following the laid down procedure for looking into such matters in the ministry,” he added.
However, he admitted that a process to review Maina’s dismissal was initiated in February 2016 by his office after his lawyers wrote, requesting Maina’s reinstatement.
However, the Acting Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Joseph Akande, informed the committee that it acted on a directive from the AGF’s office to reinstate Maina.
He recalled that earlier in May 2014, Maina wrote to the commission pleading for leniency over his dismissal from service.
“The commission looked into the issue and his appeal was turned down because we knew there were issues that he had to answer,” he said
But, he noted that when between January 19, 2017 and April 27th, the FCSC received three letters from the AGF, directing the reinstatement of Maina, the commission had to act.
“In one of the letters, the AGF clearly wrote that he was giving the directive as the Chief Legal Officer of the country and that the basis of Maina’s dismissal cannot stand because the courts quashed his warrant of arrest.”
Following the development, Akande told lawmakers that the commission wrote to the Head of Service of the Federation and the Ministry of Interior to reinstate Maina.