N195bn Pension Scam: Gaya’s Testimony Has Vindicated Maina,‎ Says Group

• Asks EFCC to remove Maina’s name from No Fly list

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Following the testimony of Senator Kabir Gaya published ‎in the Sun Newspaper on 12th April, 2016, that the sum of N195 billion which the former Chairman of Pension Reform Task Force Team, Abdulrasheed Maina‎ was accused of stealing was stuck in agencies of government and formed part of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), the Conference of Minority Tribes in Nigeria has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately delete Maina’s name from the “no fly list’ of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

The group said the revelation made by Gaya who was a co-chairman of the Senate committee on pension probe during the 7th Assembly, which recommended Maina’s sack, was a clear indication of a politically motivated attempt to soil the name of Maina in a crime the group claims he knew nothing about.

Addressing journalists during a press briefing on Sunday in Abuja, the Coordinator of the group, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, said keeping his name on the no fly list and red alert of the interpol was a clear case of fraud and victimization.

He described the testimony by Gaya that the same money he accused Maina of stealing in 2012 was suddenly intact in the TSA as the highest level of conspiracy.

Ogenyi‎ quoted Gaya to have said in an interview published in the Sun Newspaper; “You remember that I (Gaya) was a member of the 6th and and 7th Senate and I am still a member of the 8th Assembly. During the 7th Senate, we were able to do a probe of the pension scam. I was a co-chair of the committee. During the investigation, we were able to discover N195 billion stuck in accounts of various Departments, Ministries and Agencies (MDas) for pension and they were not using the monies.

“These are the kinds of money that form part of the TSA and it is a welcome idea. It is an excellent idea. Now, we can use money, we have to achieve what we ‎want…,” Gaya noted.

Ogenyi‎ stressed that for the ongoing war against corruption to succeed, the likes of Maina must be allowed a free man having proof beyond reasonable doubt, his innocence and survived all the allegations against him by anti Nigeria elements.

He said it was surprising that Maina while heading the task force assisted the government in recovering stolen funds to the tune of N1.6 trillion in 2013, stressing that his expertise would be needed by the present administration whose aim is to recover stolen funds, instead of malicious persecution against his person.

However, prior to Gaya’s confession, Maina had approach a magestrate court challenging his being declared wanted by the EFCC, insisting that, he had never been invited by the commission.

In his ruling, the chief magestrate Judge 1, A.U Shuiabu set aside the warrant and made it public that, the said court where the EFCC has claimed to have gotten the warrant of arrest from has no jurisdiction to issue such warrant.