Chidi Samuel || The Presidency and former President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday traded words over the controversy trailing the reinstatement of the fugitive former chairman of the Presidential task force on Pension reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
Responding to the Peoples Democratic Party’s interjection in the Maina controversy, the Presidency on Wednesday said the PDP lacked the moral right to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration over the botched reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina.
Garba Shehu, the Presidential spokesman described Maina as one of the monsters created the Goodluck Jonathan administration which are still active long after the party was defeated in the last election.
Shehu said, “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”.
“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”.
“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.”
The Presidential spokesman went further to allege that some influential officials loyal to Jonathan’s government might have been the invisible hands in the return of Maina to the public service, despite being on the EFCC’s wanted list.
“Everything will be uncovered in due course
“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,” he stated.
In his response to the Presidency’s allegation, former President Jonathan described as absurd, the attempt to link him with the return of Maina to the country and reinstatement to the civil service.
According to the former President, the attempt by Buhari’s government to link him with the Maina scandal is an indication of how ”rudderless and uncoordinated” the Buhari government has become.
“Are they saying it is President Jonathan that flew him back into Nigeria and promoted him in two levels ahead of where he was as at 2013 when he fled the from civil service?” Jonathan queried through his spokesman Ikechukwu Eze in an interview with PT.
“They should stop insulting Nigerians or seeing them as fools,” Eze said.
“There’s no need to warn that they will bring evidence out or that everything will be revealed on a later date.”
“They should present the evidence to Nigerians now.”
The Pension fund scandal broke during the Jonathan regime but the administration dismissed him from service and he was subsequently declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC.