Repeated denials, by top government officials, that trailed the reinstatement of a former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, have been described by political observers as a sad commentary on President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-graft campaign, JESUSEGUN ALAGBE writes
In the run-up to the 2015 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari was presented by the All Progressives Congress and perceived by his supporters as a staunch anti-corruption fighter, who would run an incorruptible and honest administration. Though the President said he was a “converted democrat” who wouldn’t rule as a military dictator that he once was, he was still seen as tough and fierce.
This, of course, was responsible for the belief by many Nigerians that Buhari was the one the country needed to block all corruption loopholes, which the previous administrations were believed to have created.
However, according to political observers, Buhari has not only performed “poorly” in the anti-corruption war, he seems to be losing coordination of his own government, as seen in the events of the past few months, particularly, the recent controversy surrounding the reinstatement of a former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
The analysts believed that though the President might be willing to genuinely fulfil his electoral promise of curbing corruption from the country, a cabal he himself appointed might have hijacked his government, a situation that had led to the seemingly lack of coordination of his administration’s anti-corruption war.
The political observers pointed out that the recent Mainagate was a proof that the Buhari administration was lacking coordination, especially in its anti-graft campaign.
In February 2016, the International Police Organisation, also known as the INTERPOL, issued a red alert on the former Pension Reforms boss, in response to a request made on November 18, 2015 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The commission had charged Maina to the Federal High Court on July 10, 2015, with charge number FHC/ABJ/297/2015, for an alleged embezzlement of N2bn pension funds at the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
However, since 2015, Maina’s whereabouts were unknown even as he remained on the EFCC’s “wanted” list until it recently emerged that he had been secretly reinstated into the civil service and even got promoted to be the director in charge of Human Resources in the Ministry of Interior.
Maina had been dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission in 2013 following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service.
Absolving himself of complicity in the matter, the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd.), had said Maina, a wanted fugitive, was posted to his ministry by the Head of Service a few days before.
The minister had added that Maina was deployed to the interior ministry in an acting capacity following the retirement of the director in charge of the Department of Human Resources.
“For the avoidance of doubt, issues relating to discipline, employment, re-engagement, posting, promotion and retirement of federal civil servants are the responsibility of the Federal Civil Service Commission and the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, of which no minister exercises such powers as erroneously expressed,” he said.
However, shortly after Dambazau said he knew nothing about Maina’s reinstatement, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, denied approving Maina’s reinstatement, insisting that the latter’s recall did not emanate from her office.
It would later emerge that Maina was reinstated and promoted based on the advice of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), who is said to be a close ally of President Buhari.
The AG’s advice had been contained in two separate letters addressed to Maina and Oyo-Ita.
The letters had indicated that Maina was reinstated into the service with effect from February 21, 2013, being the date he was earlier dismissed from service.
Apparently in reaction to Nigerians’ criticisms of the whole episode, President Buhari on Monday ordered that Maina be immediately disengaged from the Federal Civil Service and directed that Oyo-Ita should furnish him with a full report on the circumstances surrounding the recall of the wanted ex-Pension Reforms boss.
Be that as it may, a Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development and former United States intelligence community expert in Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Page, said going by the recent events, it was surprising to see how Buhari had become detached from his own government.
Page also called on the EFCC to expand its anti-corruption war net to cover serving officials in the Buhari administration.
Referring to Maina’s case, he said, “This episode begs the question: Is the President asleep at the wheel? It is surprising to see how aloof, ambivalent, and disengaged a chief executive he has become.
“It is clear (that) the scope of Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts need to expand. The EFCC’s scrutiny of serving officials arguably should match that of those no longer in power.”
Asked if Buhari could regain his perception of “toughness” as an anti-corruption war fighter, Page said the President had the power to control circumstances if he wanted to.
“The Presidency is Nigeria’s most powerful institution; Buhari has the ability to change this dynamics at any time,” he said.
In his opinion, a lawyer, Mr. Chuks Nwachuku, said Buhari had lost coordination of his government because he had ceded power to his close associates who supported his 2015 election.
Saying he didn’t even believe the President wasn’t aware of Maina’s reinstatement, the legal practitioner said if Buhari would want to prove to Nigerians that he was serious about the anti-corruption war, he would have either sacked or suspended Malami, who brought Maina back to the civil service.
Nwachuku said, “The President’s style of leadership has always been to shift responsibility to close associates. That’s what he did to Tunde Idiagbon [a major general who served as chief of staff at the Supreme Headquarters under Buhari’s military regime from 1983 to 1985].
“Buhari is a man with inadequate knowledge of governance. He had only one idea when he came to power: place the north on the prominent stage again. Every other thing is secondary. He does not fully understand the economy and politics. The only thing he understands about politics is to fight his perceived political enemies.
“If you have been watching the pattern, Buhari cannot be said to be unaware of Maina’s reinstatement. Right from time, he’s been secretly rewarding those who supported his 2015 presidential ambition with their resources. To me, sacking Maina was an empty show. If he really meant he’s fighting an anti-corruption war, he would have either suspended or sacked the AGF.
“I don’t also believe the EFCC story that they didn’t know where Maina was all this while. He must have been coming to the country, but because Maina was the President’s man, he couldn’t be arrested.
“So, to me, Buhari’s loss of grip on the people working under him is as a result of his ineptitude. He granted his associates the freedom to do whatever they like because they supported his northern agenda. Nothing will happen to Maina. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves.”
If Buhari wasn’t truly aware of Maina’s reinstatement, a Lagos-based political scientist, Dr. (Mrs.) Modupe Ojo, said it showed how the President had lost grip on his government.
Ojo also referred to a statement by the wife of the President, Aisha, who in July, after visiting her husband at a London hospital, said that the “hyenas and jackals” would soon be ejected from the [President’s] kingdom [administration].
Aisha had made the comment while responding to a post made by the senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, who made a veiled reference to the alleged power play in the government circle in Buhari’s government.
The federal lawmaker had claimed that while “weaker animals” were praying for the return of the “Lion King,” those he called “the hyenas” and “the jackals” were scheming based on the assumption that the “Lion King” would never return.
“It is the prayers of the weaker animals that the ‘Lion King’ comes back to save the kingdom from the hyenas, the wolves and other predators,” the senator had written.
The President’s wife had replied Sani that the prayers of the “weaker animals” had been answered and that “the hyenas” and “the jackals” would soon be evicted from “the kingdom.”
However, speaking to our correspondent, Ojo noted, “There is no Lion King anywhere. He has lost control. They have incapacitated him. I mean, it baffles me that the AGF sought for Maina’s reinstatement without the consent of the President. I mean, let’s give Buhari the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know Maina had been re-employed.
“All I see in the Buhari government are ineptitude, nepotism, lack of coordination among different government officials and the President’s loss of grip on his administration.”
Talking about lack of coordination among officials in Buhari’s government, one case that would readily come to mind is that of a feud between the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru.
A memo had recently leaked wherein the minister expressed frustration with the way Baru had repeatedly snubbed and disrespected the board of the national oil firm, which is chaired by him (the minister), as regarding decisions made by the company.
The letter had detailed how Baru struck oil deals worth $25bn (N9tn) and also made some changes within the NNPC structure without intimating the minister and board chairman of the national oil firm’s activities.
Meanwhile, the memo generated severe criticisms from Nigerians and Civil Society Organisations, with some noting that the situation wouldn’t have arisen if there was coordination among officials of the Buhari administration.
In his piece titled, “AGF Malami, EFCC, ICPC and the fight against corruption,” a journalist and social commentator, Godwin Onyeacholem, had also pointed at the “unhealthy” relationship and lack of coordination among Malami and anti-corruption agencies such as the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
He wrote, “Sensing that it is being overshadowed by the two agencies, the AGF is angling to show its muscle as the pre-eminent government department in all matters legal, and especially as far as prosecuting corruption cases is concerned.
“The Special Assistant to the President on Prosecutions, Okoi Obono-Obla, Man Friday and agent provocateur, is the arrowhead in this needless exercise of power that is clearly aimed at meeting some self-serving political ends.
“At every given opportunity, Obono-Obla does not fail to reiterate the fable that the anti-corruption agencies are not cooperating with the office of the AGF.”
Asking Buhari to take charge of his government, a US-based political scientist and Convener, Youths Must Arise, Mr. Femi Matthews, told Saturday PUNCH via LinkedIn that lack of coordination in the President’s government had led to a “mockery” of the anti-corruption war.
He said, “Right from time, it could be seen that the President seemed not to be in charge of his own government. How could the AGF have reinstated a man wanted by the EFCC without fearing the implications?
“Probably he knew nothing would happen. He knew he is the President’s man and he couldn’t be touched. All these issues are affecting the anti-corruption war and I don’t think things will change with the way Buhari has been handling issues like this.”