The Department of State Services has finally produced Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser (NSA), to testify at the ongoing corruption trial of Olisa Metuh, former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party.
This follows a series of orders issued by Justice Okon Abang directing the DSS to allow Dasuki appear in court.
Dasuki was dressed in a light blue attire with a cap to match when he was spotted at the Federal High Court on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Justice Abang turned down a request by Metuh’s lawyer to order the arrest of Lawal Daura, Director General of the DSS, for deliberately refusing to produce Dasuki in court in spite of several court orders to that regard.
Abang said it was premature to conclude that Lawal deliberately flouted the court order.
However, Sylvanus Tahir, counsel to the EFCC, told the court that the Legal Adviser of DSS informed him over the telephone that it was Dasuki who had consistently refused to be brought to court.
Metuh is being prosecuted for allegedly receiving N400 million from Dasuki. The money is believed to be part of the $2.1 billion meant for the acquisition of arms for the Nigerian armed forces.
He denies any wrongdoing and has insisted that he merely carried out orders from Goodluck Jonathan, who was the President and Commander in Chief at the time.
Metuh has also gotten the court to order Jonathan to appear in court and testify in the matter. However, the former President is yet to honour the summons..
President Muhammadu Buhari says he will expand the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and make appointments into other boards of government agencies, now that the economy has started improving.
He said this on Tuesday during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress.
Buhari said he decided to have a slim cabinet in order to avoid wastage of resources.
“We will expand the Federal Executive Council to bring in more people and fresh ideas, for the ultimate benefit of the people of Nigeria,” Buhari was quoted as saying at the meeting.
“Last year I said we would re-constitute the Boards of Parastatals. I must regret the fact that we have not done so, for many reasons.
“Some of us in this meeting may know I had given instructions since October 2015 for this exercise to start. But there have been inordinate delays through several Committees in an attempt to get the balance right and to make sure all parts of the country are equitably represented.
“On the other hand, I am keenly aware that our supporters are very eager for these appointments to be announced.
“By the Grace of God, these appointments will be announced soon. Especially now that the economy is improving, we will have the resources to cater for the appointees.”
Today I attended a Meeting of the National Executive Committee of our party, the All Progressives Congress.
With N5,000, or even less, one of the security guards employed to protect students at the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC), Langtang, Plateau state, would gladly pimp the girls to strangers. Speaking to TheCable’s undercover reporter, the guard gave an insight into how he organises “runs” for the teenagers for a fee, and how this is a common practice. This investigation by FEMI OWOLABI and SEYI AWOJULUGBE also exposes the rot in the once-prestigious Unity School, where students use water from an untreated well, sleep on broken beds, study in hostile classrooms — and live practically unprotected from predators.
You are in Langtang, Plateau state, for the weekend and need a schoolgirl for the evening? Someone is ready to help you make the arrangement for a fee. You can even have more than one girl if you choose. There are plenty of them at the nearby Federal Government Girls College (FGGC). The pimp is actually paid to protect the girls, but that is by the way.
Before TheCable set out for Langtang, the guard — whose phone number the reporter had collected from an acquaintance — consistently beat his chest and gave assurances that getting girls out of the hostel “is no big deal”, and it was soon obvious that the pimp had been in the business for a long time.
Bani Guest House, a popular lodge along the Langtang highway, is well known to the girls, the guard said. He explained that most of them do attend Sunday evening parties at Bani, where their boyfriends come to wait for them.
The reporter had disguised as a visiting businessman in need of girls to spend “a nice time” with. He promised to pay the guard more than what he would ask for. All the “big man” needed was a guarantee of a swell time. The excited guard called endlessly, excessively delighted with the business at hand.
TheCable ran into a little bad luck along the way — the timing of the visit coincided with when the SS3 girls were writing their exams in July 2017, and other classes were on vacation. But, not to worry, the guard was ready to pull the strings all the same.
Settling over a plate of rice ordered for him at the guest house, the guard told his would-be customer that girls in SS3 who were rounding off their final exams would make the perfect picks.
“I am giving you outgoing students,” he said, his face loosening into a smile. “There are some writing exams, it’s just to get a clue to know them and ask if they can do this for me. There are girls who do ‘runs’ but the issue is money.”
The guard, who was quick to request for money so he could move round and also “sort out” the girls’ transportation, revealed that there are a couple of schoolgirls who are into the act of sneaking out of the school premises.
“You’ll discuss how much you’ll give them,” he said, pocketing the N5,000 the reporter had given him as upfront for the task. “All those girls are small girls and they don’t know money much. If you treat them well, they will look for you if you’re still around.”
The guard had left his duty post. For hours, he was moving round the school, searching for girls who could be available under the tight deadline.
“I have arranged two girls now, and they will come to meet you when they are done with their exams today,” he would later say on phone.
You can listen to the conversation with the guard below.
The girls eventually did not turn up as planned — they wrote their papers late and feared coming out of the school could jeopardise the other papers the following morning, the guard explained. They would turn up after writing the day’s papers, he said with an air of certainty. At this point, TheCable editors decided to abort the mission for professional reasons.
One of the newly graduated girls, who later spoke with TheCable, said this particular guard is the go-to man pimping girls to strangers.
“He used to be a kitchen staff,” the girl said. “He impregnated one of the girls in the hostel, you know the hostel is close to the kitchen, and I think as a punishment, he was moved from the kitchen to the gate.”
A similar case was recorded at Queen’s College, Lagos, where a male teacher accused of sexually harassing students was allegedly protected by school authorities and saved from punishment. He was eventually posted to King’s College, Lagos, after sustained pressure from activists and former students.
‘WE HEARD ONE TEACHER WAS A PIMP, BUT NO PROOF’
One of the officials of Langtang’s old girls’ association told TheCable that a year ago, they heard that girls were being pimped, but they could not substantiate the allegation.
“The pimp, we were told, wasn’t even a security guard but one of the male teachers,” she explained. “We have tried to investigate but we couldn’t find anything. We confronted the former principal — who is now retired — with this and she said there was no such thing going on. There was a specific teacher allegedly doing this with SS3 girls but no one could give his name or any useful information in getting to the root of the matter.”
The old girls had to disregard the allegation.
“We even got a girl whom we were told knew this pimp, and when we called her, she denied knowing a thing. So, we had to disregard the rumour, because if you tell us something is happening, you should be able to give us the needed information to work with. If we had a name at least, we could have done something covertly with some of the old girls who now teach at the college, and our Jos chapter could have showed up in the school unannounced,” she said.
The culture of silence is not surprising — nobody wants to face the backlash. In the case of Queen’s College, the father of the schoolgirl that was allegedly harassed reportedly wanted the saga kept from the public so that his daughter would not be victimised or stigmatised.
‘SOME TEACHERS CALL GIRLS INTO THEIR OFFICES AT NIGHT’
One of the graduating girls who spoke with TheCable is not sure if girls are being pimped to strangers, but she knows at least three members of staff whom she claimed made sexual advances to the girls.
“One teacher used to call girls to his office in the night,” she said. “But, I don’t know what he used to do with them. One of the girls told us that when she went to his office, he only asked her out, and that when it’s weekend she would follow him to his house.”
Another teacher, it was alleged, would call girls to his office in the night, and it is not clear what he did with them. “It is during prep time, 7-9pm, that we see girls going to the teacher’s office,” she said. She named all the teachers involved but TheCable, for legal reasons, chose to withhold their identities.
At the ICT department, where girls go for biometrics for examination purposes, the man in charge — under the pretense of guiding them — would touch them sexually. “That one will be touching girls’ breasts and buttocks,” the graduating girl told TheCable.
The ministry of education, which directly supervises federal government colleges, says it is not aware of the allegations of pimping at Langtang.
Chineye Ihuoma, director of press at the federal ministry of education, told TheCable: “If you have any proof, the best way is for you to write us formally and we will conduct proper investigations. But, how can a security man in the school be pimping girls to a stranger? How can?”
A COLLEGE WHERE GIRLS ARE FAR FROM SAFE
There is hardly anything or anyone that is safe at FGGC Langtang. The security guard could easily pimp girls to strangers, in any case, as the school premises are not properly protected.
A federal government-owned boarding school, and a girls-only for that matter, should ordinarily have strong security, especially with the school located along a bushy suburb of Langtang.
“People walk through the school premises unchallenged,” a member of staff explained, adding that a former principal had attempted fencing the school but could not raise the funds.
“It has become a shortcut for staff and people who now walk through the school to the main road and or their houses. And sadly, there are some boys who come in through the unfenced area to steal items from the girls’ lockers.”
True to the statement, people could be seen moving freely without restrictions when TheCable visited. The reporter had even entered through this unfenced part through to the girls’ hostels without any restriction.
The fence, which appears to have been constructed in recent years, had gradually been reduced to a plain ground. The open space leads to the school’s kitchen and the girls’ hostels.
One of the students told TheCable that some adventurous girls do sneak out through the unfenced area to attend parties and meet with boyfriends in town. It makes things easier for the security guard who seems to be in the business of pimping them to strangers.
“Students are not allowed to go out of the school when in session, but the stubborn ones do sneak out to attend parties. They go through the back-of-school because there is no fence, but some go through the gate because the security is not so tight,” another student told TheCable.
MILLIONS BUDGETED, BUT NOT MUCH TO SHOW
21st century classroom at FGGC Langtang
In 2014, N13m was appropriated to construct a perimeter fencing of FGGC, Langtang. In the same year, N18m was approved to build new hostels and N12m for the completion of a vocational workshop.
The following year, 2015, N40m was appropriated for the construction of borehole and reticulation of water, VIP toilets and bathrooms in the hostels and classrooms, and provision of a modern kitchen and renovation of dining halls.
None of these could be found in the girls’ college when TheCable visited. Aside from the poor security, students complained of bad water, and the school’s kitchen which was expected to be a modern one had cooks making food with firewood.
.
This is where the girls sleep — a good night rest?
“There is only one borehole in the hostel area,” a junior class student said. She complained that the technician assigned to pump water for the girls is not always available, making her and other girls resort to fetching water from an untreated well. “And, I get rashes on my body whenever I use this water,” she said.
For senior students who are used to the system, they have a way of keeping buckets of water under their bunk to last them through the ‘no-water days’. Students in the junior classes, however, are not so lucky.
Three students of Queen’s College, Lagos — Vivian Osuinyi, Bithia Itulua and Praise Sodipo — died between February and March 2017 from water-borne diseases.
“The issue of fence is not peculiar to FGGC, Langtang,” a member of the college’s management staff told TheCable. “Contracts have been given for the completion of the fence like other unity colleges that their fence are not completed.”
When informed of the security guard who seems to be pimping girls to strangers, a couple of the management staff said they had not heard nor seen a thing like that.
“Maybe it used to happen in the past, but nothing of such is happening now,” one of them said
THESE PHOTOS TELL IT ALL
The water-induced sicknesses and deaths at Queen’s College Lagos could be re-enacted in Langtang
The girls queuing up to fetch waterThis is the kitchenLunch is ready
MUM IS THE WORD
No official of the school was willing to talk on record to TheCable.
For a school devilled with security issues, poor infrastructure and a possible epidemic, the only official answer TheCable got was couched in bureaucratic language.
“I am a civil servant. I would advise that you speak to the ministry of education in Abuja,” Laura Dogo, the new principal, said when asked to comment on the various issues. She refused to entertain further questions.
Adamu Adamu, the minister of education,told TheCable in June that the government would look into the issues about the state of unity schools in the country, but complained about funding gaps that need to be addressed creatively.
This is a special investigative project by Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF), in partnership with TheCable, supported by the MacArthur Foundation. Published materials are not the views of the MacArthur Foundation. Some of the pictures used here were provided by independent sources.
President Muhammadu Buhari says it is easier to manage failure than it is to manage success “especially with the kind of big success” that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), recorded in 2015.
Apparently responding to myriad of challenges that his administration and the APC had been facing since the 2015 general election, the President, via a series of tweets Tuesday’s after the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the APC, said: “The change that the APC represents is here to stay, as APC will stay united as a party to continue to work for the good of Nigeria.”
In the tweets, he said the party is proud of its achievements in the last two years, listing the fight against Boko Haram, Agric Revolution, Improved Power, Peace in the Delta as the achievements.
“I am aware that it is sometimes easier to manage failure than to manage success — especially the kind of big success the APC achieved in 2015,” he said.
“I must therefore thank all stakeholders, as well as a number of non-APC members who have consistently risen above petty partisan interests.
“The APC is proud of our achievements in the last 2 years: the fight against Boko Haram, Agric Revolution, Improved Power, Peace in the Delta.”
He added that the country had seen regular supply of petroleum products as well as a successful presidential fertilizer initiative and the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA).
“We’ve seen regular supply of petroleum products, a successful Presidential Fertilizer Initiative; & TSA Implementation. This change is real.
“Internationally, Nigeria’s prestige and credit-worthiness have gone up. We have regained our respect on the International stage.
“Today, the World Bank released its latest Business Rankings report. We moved up 24 places,& are one of the world’s 10 most improved countries.”
He promised that his administration would not rest on the achievements, noting that the government is aware of a number of challenges before it.
“Nevertheless, we will not rest on these achievements. There are still quite a number of challenges before us, and we are well aware of these,” he continued.
On the boards of parastatals that are yet to be constituted, the President expressed regret over the inability of his government to work towards a promise to constitute the board last year.
“I said last year that we would shortly reconstitute the Boards of Parastatals. I regret the fact that we’ve not done so, for many reasons.
“I know that our supporters are also very eager for these Board appointments to be announced. By God’s grace they will be announced soon.”
He allayed the fears of those lamenting their lack of representation in the Federal Government, saying the Federal Executive Council (FEC) would be expanded to bring more people and fresh ideas.
“Regarding concerns about the representation of our supporters in the Federal Government, rest assured that this is also being looked into.
“We will expand the Federal Executive Council to bring in more people and fresh ideas, for the ultimate benefit of the people of Nigeria.”
The National Judicial Council (NJC) has appointed Suleiman Galadima as replacement for Ayo Salami, former President of the Court of Appeal, who rejected his appointment as Chairman of the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee.
This was contained in a statement issued on Tuesday by the NJC’s Director of Information.
“The National Judicial Council under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Mr. Justice Walter Nkanu Onnoghen, GCON, has picked a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Hon. Justice Mr. Suleiman Galadima, CFR, as the new chairman of the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee,” the statement read.
“He is to replace Hon. Justice Mr. Ayo Salami (retired) who excused himself from the committee as the Chairman, after initially accepting to serve.
“The committee will be inaugurated tomorrow, Wednesday, November 1st, 2017 by Hon. Justice Mr. Onnoghen, at the Council’s Conference Hall by 2 pm.”
Galadima, the newly appointed Chairman, retired as a Justice of the Supreme Court on October 10, 2016, having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70.
He said that the judiciary abandoned him when he was “harassed” out of office in 2011.
“I rejected the appointment because it is not in my interest,” Salami said.
“Where was the judiciary when they were harassing me? Where was the court when they were harassing me? So, let them continue to do it in their own way.”
Babachir Lawal or Boss Mustapha? Who is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)? Well, we can’t really say. Your answer depends on the websites you’ve been visiting.
If you have been reading the ICIR, Mustapha would be the answer. But if you have been reading the official website of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), you would say Lawal.
In what is a sad reminder of the shoddy information management in government quarters, the official OSGF website still shows Babachir Lawal as SGF — more than 24 hours after he was sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the website, Lawal was appointed on August 27, 2015 as the 18th SGF since independence.
Lawal’s picture is displaced on the home page, with no information yet on Mustapha, appointed to replace Lawal with immediate effect.
Lawal was sacked on Monday afternoon. A statement issued by Femi Adesina, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, said Buhari sacked him after studying the report of the investigative panel set up to probe allegations of corruption and abuse of office made against him.
The three-man committee was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and its members were Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and Babagana Monguno, National Security Adviser.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has studied the report of the panel headed by the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, which investigated allegations against the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Babachir David Lawal,” Adesina stated.
“The President accepted the recommendation of the panel to terminate the appointment of Mr Lawal, and has appointed Mr as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation. The appointment takes immediate effect.
Lawal was suspended following an allegationby the Senate ad-hoc committee on the North East that he awarded contracts worth hundreds of millions of naira to a company he owns.
The contract, according to the senate committee, was to “remove invasive plant species” from the Yobe State water channels.
Doctors have warned that toilet papers do little to remove faeces, and have therefore advocated the use of wet wipes or toilet bidets.
Doctors also say apart from cleanliness, excessive wiping could cause health problems such as anal fissures and urinary tract infections.
Daily Mail reports that celebrities such as will.i.am, Will Smith and Terrence Howard have been vouching for baby wipes instead of tissue for years — with Smith even hailing the habit as “special and incredible”.
Countries like Italy, Spain and Greece have implemented the use of toilet bidets instead of tissue but many other countries, including US and Nigeria, still rely on the toilet paper to wipe the anus.
The toilet bidet squirts water into the area to make cleaning with toilet paper easier.
Rose George, author of ‘The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters’, explained why using toilet paper doesn’t remove faeces like it should.
“I find it rather baffling that millions of people are walking around with dirty anuses while thinking they are clean,” George said. “Toilet paper moves sh*t, but it doesn’t remove it.”
Will.i.am said baby wipes are what most people should consider using in terms of wiping.
“Here’s proof on why people should have baby wipes. Get some chocolate, wipe it on a wooden floor, and then try to get it up with some dry towels. You’re going to get chocolate in the cracks. That’s why you gotta get them baby wipes,” will.i.am said.
Actor Terrence Howard went as far as to say he didn’t trust women who used toilet paper.
“If they’re using dry paper, they aren’t washing all of themselves. It’s just unclean. So if I go in a woman’s house and see the toilet paper there, I’ll explain this,” Howard said.
Actor and director Will Smith echoed a similar appreciation for baby wipes. “I’m the type of person that it’s important for me to share. When I experience something that’s special and incredible, I like to share it with people. Anyone who’s using dry toilet paper, you’re really not doing yourself the true service,” Smith said.
Cleanliness is not the only reason people should consider bidets or baby wipes instead.
Aggressive wiping has been known to cause health problems such as anal fissures and haemorrhoids.
An anal fissure is a tear in the lining of the rectum and can cause bleeding or pain for the person when they are pooping.
Most fissures heal at home after eight to 12 weeks, but it is important to be careful when wiping because it can irritate the area.
Haemorrhoids are swollen veins and tissue in the lower rectum and anus. They are more serious than fissures and sometimes can be harder to treat.
External haemorrhoids happen around the rim and are the ones that are typically irritated from excessive wiping, but they can be treated with cream or medication.
Also, bidets can prevent people from developing a urinary tract infection.
If people wipe from back-to-front, they are pulling bacteria from the anus towards the front of the body.
This can impact women especially and cause them to develop at UTI from the bacteria getting into the urethra.
By using a bidet or wet wipe instead, it kills the bacteria and prevents it from infecting the urinary tract.
During these dangerous times of high tensions in Somalia, terrorism could quickly end if Somali security forces were trained to form what is known in Latin American military circles as Prevention Wings of the Military. These units would be comprised of Invincible Defense Technology (IDT) experts. The purpose of these IDT groups would be to practice the non-religious Transcendental Meditation (TM) and the advanced TM-Sidhi program in group twice a day.
Extensive peer-reviewed research and military field-tests worldwide show that proper application of these specific programs bring about measurable decreases in crime, terrorism and war, and improvements in quality of life, which are thought to be tangible signs of the reduction of societal stress. These changes are measurable from such statistics as reduced terrorism and conflict, crime rates, accidents, hospital admissions and infant mortality.
In highly stressed areas of the globe, establishment of large groups of IDT experts have also increased economic incentives and growth of prosperity. Entrepreneurship and creativity increase as well. Also, on a global scale when large groups of civilian experts gathered from 1983 to 1985, terrorism-related casualties decreased 72 per cent and international conflict decreased 32 per cent. Moreover, such positive changes in social trends take place within a few days or weeks after IDT is introduced.
The IDT approach has been used during wartime, resulting in reduction of fighting, reduced war deaths and casualties, and improved progress toward resolving the conflict through peaceful means. IDT is totally unlike any other defense technology in that it does not use violence to quell violence.
It is the high collective stress levels in Somalia that ultimately fuel terrorism and warfare. If dangerous levels of collective stress and frustration are reduced by applying IDT, then Somalia’s governmental leaders and citizens will be more capable of finding constructive and orderly solutions to the irresolute issues plagueing the nation.
With greater civic calm, citizens’ aspirations will rise, and a more productive and balanced society will emerge. Then violence as a means for change and/or as an expression of discontent will naturally subside.
The powerful IDT human-resource-based defense technology disallows negative trends and prevents enemies from arising.
No enemies means no war or terrorism and full security, as well as a happy, productive and normal life for everyone.
invincible-IDT- Military Model
For these reasons, the IDT approach is advocated by the Global Union of Scientists for Peace (GUSP). This non-profit organization hosted an international conference in Kiev, Ukraine (see: https://www.gusp.org/global-peace-summit/).
Renowned Ukrainian leaders Lt. General (Ret.) Vasyl Krutov, former chief of the Ukraine Anti-Terrorism Center as well as Academician Dr. Sergiy Maksymenko, a distinguished Ukrainian research scientist are among the impressive list of participants who spoke at or voiced their support for the conference.
Others included: President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, who applied innovative IDT programs to end that nation’s civil war; retired Ecuadorian Lt. General José Villamil, who also applied IDT to end war between Ecuador and Peru; and Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
IDT is a way for the Somali security forces to prevent conflict and terrorism by deploying a proven, simple human resource-based technology, with minimal training and costs needed to implement it. It would cost about as much as one modern fighter jet.
Recent events show that IDT is desperately needed. There is truly no other solution. Somali leaders would be wise to read the proceedings of the GUSP conference and learn how to best rapidly establish perpetual peace.
Dr. David Leffler has a Ph.D. in Consciousness-Based Military Defense and served as an Associate of the Proteus Management Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College. Currently, he serves as the Executive Director at the Center for Advanced Military Science (http://www.strongmilitary.org) and lectures and writes worldwide about IDT.
Winifred Oyo-Ita, Head of Service of the Federation, says she told President Muhammadu Buhari about the plot to reinstate Abdulrasheed Maina, former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT).
This was contained in the memo submitted by Oyo-Ita to Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff, in response to a query from the President demanding an explanation into the circumstances that led to Maina’s reinstatement.
According to The Punch, the memo, dated October 23, and with reference number HSCSF/HCSF/LU/COR/FCSC/750/T, was titled: ‘Re: Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina’.
Oyo-Ita maintained that the move to recall Maina was kick-started by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, and that her office was never in support of it, neither did it approve Maina’s subsequent posting to the Ministry of Interior.
“Please, note that the OHCSF was never in agreement with the reinstatement and consequently never conveyed the approval of the FCSC to Mr. A. A. Maina, nor approved his posting to the Ministry of Interior or any other MDA,” Punch quoted Oyo-Ita as writing in the memo.
“Rather, I sought audience with His Excellency, Mr. President, on Wednesday, 11th October, 2017 after the FEC meeting where I briefed His Excellency verbally on the wide-ranging implications of the reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina, especially the damaging impact on the anti-corruption stance of this administration.
“The move to recall Mr. A. A. Maina was at the instance of a series of letters from the Attorney General of the Federation to the Federal Civil Service Commission requesting the commission to give consequential effect to the judgement that voided the warrant of arrest issued against Mr. A. A. Maina which formed the basis for the query and his eventual dismissal.
“The FCSC thereafter requested that the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation should advise the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior to consider the AGF’s letter and make appropriate recommendations to the commission and this was so communicated to the Ministry of Interior.
“The Ministry of Interior took the matter to the Senior Staff Committee of the ministry and recommended the reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina into the service as Deputy Director.
“The OHCSF forwarded the recommendation to the FCSC, which has the constitutional responsibility for appointments, promotion and discipline for further action.
“The FCSC in consideration of the letter from the AGF and the recommendations of the SSC of the Ministry of Interior consequently approved and conveyed the reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina with effect from 21st February, 2013 vide letter herewith attached as Annex IV.
“The letter of reinstatement, as communicated to HCSF Ref. FC. 4029.82/Vol. III/179 dated 18th September, 2017 attached herewith as Annex IV, ostensibly also copied the Ministry of Interior which is the one erroneously used to document Mr. A. A. Maina on a claim that he has resumed work since 28th September, 2017.
“The Ministry of Interior informed the OHCSF of this development vide letter Ref. MI/1436/II/24 dated 16th October, 2017 from Ministry of Interior stating that Mr. A. A. Maina has resumed with effect from 28th September, 2017 is attached as Annex V.
“However, I have requested the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, to provide any documentary evidence to support the claim of reinstatement and posting of Mr. A. A. Maina by OHCSF, since after his dismissal.
“The letter to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior is attached as Annex VI. The foregoing is accordingly submitted for your information and further consideration.”
Maina was accused of spearheading massive corruption in the pension reforms task team which he headed between 2010 and 2013.
He was declared wanted by the EFCC and the Nigeria Police after he refused to honour several summons by the Senate to appear before it and clear himself.
He fled to the United Arab Emirates where he remained until his surreptitious reinstatement into the civil service.
However, Buhari, who was in Turkey when the news of Maina’s reinstatement broke, ordered his immediate dismissal from service.
Femi Adesina, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, says the President never said Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was innocent of the allegations against him.
Adesina said this during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, when he was asked why Buhari decided to sack him all of a sudden after clearing him earlier.
“You didn’t get it right, you didn’t get it right,” Adesina said. “The President at no time said anybody was not guilty.
“What the President said then was that he [Lawal] was not given the right to defend himself. He said the procedure adopted for the indictment that came from the National Assembly, was not proper.
“The President did not give him a clean bill of health, he only faulted the procedure. So get it right. Don’t ascribe what the President did not say to him.”
After the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the North East had indicted Lawal of corruption, it made recommendations to Buhari, asking him to drop Lawal from his cabinet.
But Buhari replied that he could not act on the Senate’s recommendation due to some reasons.
First, he noted that the recommendation was contained in “an interim report as against a final report which ought to have been presented to the Senate in a Plenary for adoption as a binding and final report”.
Buhari also noted that out of the nine members that made up the ad-hoc committee, only three signed the report, thereby making it “a minority report” and “presenting a challenge for the Presidency to determine the weight to attach to the report”.
Also, Buhari said that the report did not establish that “Babachir Lawal was ever given an opportunity to appear before the committee and defend himself”, neither was the company linked to him [Rholavision Engineering Limited].
“In the light of the foregoing, I am not able to approve the recommendation to remove and prosecute Engineer Lawal on the basis of the Senate ad-hoc committee report dated 15th December, 2016,” Buhari had said.
