Who is drumming for Maina?
It is no longer news that Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, the embattled Chairman of the Pension Reform Task team has absconded into the thin air; and this is coming after days of claiming that his hands were clean. It is also no news that Pension Funds have been disappearing into ghost accounts with those in-charge claiming ignorance. One is not flabbergasted in a country like Nigeria where a ship fully loaded with tones of crude oil could disappear and an aircraft could also disappear from the Nigerian airspace, who and what then is the “tiny” Maina not to disappear? In Nigeria, impossibility is nothing! But what is more intriguing and fascinating is the dexterity of the man drumming for Maina and igniting his audacity.
Just in a space of two weeks, the Senate – apparently the most powerful law making institution in Nigeria – issued out an order to the Police that Maina be arrested and detained for prosecution following the cases of pension scam hovering over his head, only for the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar to look the other way. Days after the order couldn't hold waters; the Senate got frustrated and displaced their aggression towards the IGP asking him to appear before the Senate to explain why their order was flouted. The rest is history. Similarly, when the hullabaloo exuding from the National Assembly became too apparent to be ignored, the Presidency also issued an order to the Head of Service mandating that Maina be punished.
With the orders flying round from these institutions, its crystal clear that Maina has been found culpable and should therefore be arrested and thrown into jail as a commensurate punishment for a notorious gangster of Pension funds. Unfortunately, both the IGP and HOS couldn't apprehend Maina while he kept on pontificating and cruising round Abuja in a tainted glass wheel, while his lawyers were also busy in court.
The inability of our most powerful institutions to clamp down Maina after more than 72hrs further exposed the ineptitude of the Nigerian system and signaled that there are forces – that be – drumming for Maina while he kept on dancing “etighi and azonto” round Abuja. If an order from the National Assembly could be flouted and an order from the Presidency can also be ignored, who then is drumming for Maina? Much as I know, the lion has never been greater than the jungle – except we want to re-write history – which is impossible, the time for President Goodluck Jonathan to equate his words with action has come again. President Jonathan had told Nigerians and the whole world sometime ago in his affirmative fight against corruption that no public official found wanting in his government would be spared; this is the time to match words with action! Otherwise, we would assume its cowardice. Maina has insulted the intelligence of Nigerians. How can you abscond after claiming innocent? That's contradictory! The same way Henry Okah absconded to South Africa thinking that he will find refuge there only to be fished out and thrown into jail – with collaboration from the Nigeria and South Africa governments – is the same way the Federal Government must deploy all her tactics to ensure that Maina is forked out of the dungeon wherever he is hiding and subsequently made to face the wrath of the law.
I will also admonish at this juncture that once Maina is fished out, he mustn't be brought back to Nigeria for trial. He should be tried by the judicial system of the country he is hiding as our judicial system has demonstrated for the umpteenth time an ignominious defect in the prosecution of heartless monsters like Maina. The trials of James Ibori, former Delta state governor, who is now serving his jail term in the United Kingdom and Yusuf of the Police Pension Scam, are classical examples of the embarrassing state of our judicial system. So, until our judicial system recovers from “coma” by reviewing the archaic criminal laws to match the dictates of the present day realities, the foreign judicial aid is welcomed!
Also, the Nigeria Police Force has given Nigerians so much to worry about. The nearly forgotten looting of Tafa Balogun, the ludicrous state of the Police College in Ikeja exposed by Channels TV, the Police Pension Scam etc., and now the failure to arrest Maina all cast doubts about the Force. It is also on record that Kabiru Sokoto, a BokoHaram kingpin escaped from detention all under their nose. When precedents like this are set, one begins to cast doubts in the wholesome police force transmogrification of the current Inspector General of Police. Worst still on the Maina imbroglio, the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, said that he had withdrawn his men attached to Maina. This is a sardonic expression! I do not want to say I smell conspiracy, but to merely withdraw your men from a man that the National Assembly has given an order to be arrested leaves room for suspicions. And the only way curiosities could be demystified is for the IGP to deploy all his intelligence in collaboration with other intelligence networks worldwide to track down Maina.
Maina is not a terrorist that should prove herculean for Interpol to crack, he is just one of those Sigmund Freud will describe in his psychoanalytical theory as anal expulsive personality who got fixated in one of the psychosexual stages of development. So, the time to test the intelligence of our Police Network has come, and also the time for the Federal Government to prove to Nigerians that the lion (Maina) can never be greater than the jungle (Nigeria) is here. Until we find Maina, who is drumming for Maina?
Ex Editor-In-Chief
Psychology Press Organization,
University of Ibadan
Simeon Christian is also an author for www.sleeping-with-a-sleeping-disorder.com
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