by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The embattled ex-chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, who has been accused of complicity in a N2bn fraud, has gone into hiding. The fugitive, who is still on the wanted list of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the alleged offence, went into hiding soon after news that the anti-graft agency had launched a manhunt for him became public. One of our correspondents gathered that Maina, who had been reinstated as an acting director in the Ministry of Interior, was to meet with yet to be identified persons in his office but apparently had a change of heart because he was nowhere near the office building when our reporter arrived at the office at 8.20am and at 2.00pm when he left. The office located at the Old Secretariat in Area 1, consists of a reception, a waiting room before a massive door leading up to the director’s office. The reception looked dreary while two young men in the waiting room fiddled with their phones as they conversed in low tones. Attempts to speak with the female secretary, who refused to give her name, failed as she rebuffed all questions. In response to enquiries about the whereabouts of her new boss, she snapped, “I don’t know where he is.” A source, who spoke to one of our correspondents, in confidence because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Maina travelled to Kano during the weekend and had given appointments to some persons to meet him at the office on Monday but went into hiding soon afterwards. The source said, “He planned to...
by Admin | Oct 24, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, has countered the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, who on Sunday blamed her and the Federal Civil Service Commission for the reinstatement of the former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, to office. Mrs. Oyo-Ita said through a statement by her Assistant Director, Media Relations, Mohammed Manga, “The attention of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has been drawn to several media reports that the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has approved the reinstatement into the Federal Civil Service of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina and his subsequent posting to the Ministry of Interior. “The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation wishes to inform the public that the reinstatement and posting of Alhaji Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina never emanated from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. “Consequently, the purported reinstatement and posting by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is totally erroneous and misleading.” Mr. Dambazau had in a statement by his Press Secretary, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo, denied responsibility for Mr. Maina’s recall to service. The statement explained that Mr. Maina “was posted few days ago to the Ministry of Interior by the Office of the Head of Service on an Acting capacity to fill a vacancy created following the retirement of the Director heading the Human Resources Department in the Ministry.” The minister blamed Mr. Maina’s recall on the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and...
by Admin | Oct 23, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI Suspected kidnappers have killed the chaplain to the Bishop of the African Church, Ondo Central Diocese, Revd. David Ayeola. The gunmen shot Ayeola dead in a botched rescue operation after the church declined to pay the N100m ransom the kidnappers demanded. The African Church had offered N500,000 instead. The remains of the victim had been deposited in a morgue. Our correspondent gathered that Ayeola, the bishop, Samuel Ojo; and the bishop’s wife were travelling to Abeokuta, Ogun State, from Imojo Ekiti, Ekiti State, when they were waylaid by the gunmen on the road. The bishop, his wife, Ayeola, and the driver of the car were said to have fled into the bush. A source said, “While others escaped, the chaplain was caught and abducted by the gunmen. “They later contacted the headquarters of the church at Akure and demanded N100m. The church, however, offered them N500,000, which they turned down.” Another top leader of the African Church said the church’s leadership involved the Ekiti State Police Command in the rescue of the priest. He explained that while trying to buy time with negotiation, the police also closed in on the hideout of the abductors. “On Saturday, the police swooped on the hideout of the kidnappers and there was an exchange of gunfire between them. “The police team was overpowered and the kidnappers decided to shoot the priest. He was shot in the side; they (kidnappers) left his corpse behind. The family has taken the body to the morgue,” he added. When contacted, the Diocesan Public Relations Officer, Alex Akande, said he could not talk about the incident,...
by Admin | Oct 23, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has secretly reinstated fugitive former Chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil service. Multiple sources confirmed to that Mr. Maina, who is wanted by the Anti-Graft Agency, EFCC, was secretly recalled and promoted to the position of director in charge of Human Resources in the Ministry of Interior. Before his appointment to chair the pension task force, Mr. Maina was an assistant director in the ministry. The news of the reinstatement first filtered through a congratulatory message for Mr. Maina by a group called League of Civil Society Organizations which commended the federal government for the reinstatement. Mr. Maina was in 2013 dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service. A retired director in the Office of the Head of Service familiar with the matter said recalling Mr. Maina was an affront on the rule of law. “He should not have been reinstated. Doesn’t Mr. Maina have a case in court? The rules provide for action to be taken only after the courts have dispensed of the case fully,” he said. Trouble started in 2012 when Mr. Maina was accused of leading a massive pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion. Mr. Maina was drafted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010 to sanitize a corrupt pension system. Based on the allegation of corruption, Mr. Maina was invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration. The Senate after completion of its investigation issued a Warrant...
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI A pro-democracy and Non-Governmental organization, the Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA, has alleged that the police high command is in the process of sweeping under the carpet, the alleged killing of 19-year-old female student of Cross Rivers State University Miss. Joy Odama by one Alhaji Usman I. Adamu in Abuja. The Rights group also condemned the “lack of action” by the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris on the attack by gunmen on Saint Philips Catholic Church Ozubulu, Anambra state on Sunday August 13th 2017. HURIWA said the Anambra state police command and the office of the Inspector General of Police seems to be colluding to maintain conspiratorial silence on the crime and allegedly failed to embark on any comprehensive investigation into the bloody attack on the worshippers. HURIWA, in a statement made available to DAILY POST by the National Coordinator its Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, condemned the rapid deterioration of professionalism in the Nigeria Police Force under the current dispensation which has led to the piling up of several unresolved crimes that happened in different parts of Nigeria. The group said the last time it reached out to the police high command in Abuja about two months ago, it was informed that the Inspector General of police has sent the file of Alhaji Usman Adamu to the director of public prosecution for action. The statement added, “We are shocked that the office of the Federal Attorney General has refused to take action to bring the alleged murderer to speedy trial before the competent court of law. Does the...
by Admin | Oct 20, 2017 | Blog |
Follow @NigeriaPI The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters, Kano Zonal Command, said it had rescued 57 victims of human trafficking in Katsina State. The NAPTIP Zonal Commander, Mr Shehu Umar said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Kano on Tuesday, that the latest arrest raise the number of victims rescued to 263 this year. He said the 57 victims were intercepted on Saturday, Oct. 8. “The victims were intercepted in two separate groups by the Nigeria Immigration Service in Katsina state along Kongolom border in Mai’adua Local Area on their way to Libya.” He said following the receipt of the report, the Zonal command went to Katsina and rescued the victims whose traffickers had since escaped. “All the victims are here now with us pending the completion of the investigation currently going on.” Umar said preliminary investigation had shown that the victims paid between N5, 000 and N250, 000 as fares to their traffickers to facilitate the journey to Libya. He said the victims, aged between 12 and 38, had no travelling documents and were from Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Lagos and Ondo states. According to him, the victims would be reunited with their families as soon as investigation was completed. “With this achievement, the command has been able to rescue no fewer than 263 victims of human trafficking from January to date. “Out of this number, 173 are female while the remaining 90 are...
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