The Presidency on Wednesday said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had no moral right to level any accusations against the current government in respect of Abdulrasheed Maina, the embattled former head of the presidential team on pension reforms.
In a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES, Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, described Mr. Maina as one of the monsters created by the former PDP government, and which are still rearing their ugly heads long after the Party was soundly defeated in the 2015 elections.
“Over and over again, the President Buhari government has pointed out that the administration’s greatest problem is the mess left behind by the previous government. Maina is just one more example,” he said.
Referring to document records from the investigations that led to the disgrace of the former pension boss and his being declared wanted by the EFCC, Mr. Shehu noted that Mr. Maina was not the only top member of the former government involved in the multibillion naira pensions scandal, but a man warmly ensconced in the bosom of power.
“Top officials in the PDP government, from sectoral heads, to those charged with responsibility for law and order received some of these billions of naira from Maina,” the presidential spokesperson said. “We have all the transaction records and these are matters that the EFCC has been pursuing to ensure that they all have their day in court.”
Mr. Shehu hinted that some influential officials loyal to the previous government may have been the invisible hand in the latest scandal that saw the return of Maina to the public service, despite being on the EFCC’s wanted list. He, however, assured Nigerians that President Buhari was determined to get to the bottom of the matter of the impunity that led to Mr. Maina’s reinstatement.
“Everything will be uncovered in due course,” he said. “This just goes to show us the scale of corruption that this government is fighting. And, as we can all see, corruption keeps fighting back viciously.”
