Some haggard looking Men Suspected to have been hired assassins had invaded residence of the embattled former Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina at about 3am early Tuesday morning brandishing sophisticated weapons and harassing his family members. They were even said to have taken up two rooms in the house and checking personal apparels in the house which is unconstitutional.
Maina’s Security aides were immediately informed and by the time they arrived the rented house, the suspected men led by a man believed to be wearing a police uniform was accosted and confessed that they was personally dropped off by the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Ibrahim Magu). The three men were erratic in thier actions and kept on repeating the name ” Maina, Maina is who we want”, after which thier leader kept mute.
He rebuffed every attempt to get him disclose his mission around Maina’s house but said that his Boss might come around midnight.
A retired para-military officer who lives in the area, pleaded not to be named for fear of his life, urged the authorities, including the DSS and Police to protect Maina’s life and that of his family. He further appealed to the neighbors to stand out against this illegal form of attack on an innocent citizen whondid his best to turn the pension sector around for the better.
Another elder stateman who lives behind the. Controversial rented house, said “it is only in Nigeria that doing good is a crime, we Pensioners really benefitted during Maina’s days in office”.
Since his return to the country after several failed assassination attempts on his life, and his Reinstatement into the Federal Civil Service which was as a consequential effect of a Federal High Court Judgement which was delivered in April, 2013, Maina has been in the news.
He had recently revealed that his pension Taskforce team (comprising of EFCC, ICPC, POLICE, DSS, NIA etc) was instrumental to the recovery of over 222 assets from suspected thieves, which were duly handed over to both ICPC the EFCC.
The assets were allegedly shared and most of them were sold below half of the market values to government officials and cronies of the EFCC boss, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who have been defending the EFCC Acting Chairman.
However, when the action of the Commission first became a media issue, the Acting Chairman of the EFCC in a statement denied having the recovered assets in its custody.
But the EFCC recanted days later after Maina released a list containing names of the suspected pension thieves who owned the assets, the location of the assets and the categories of assets seized and handed over to the commission.
Maina had insistently accused powerful pension thieves, whose tores he had stepped on in the course of his duty as the Chairman of the pension taskforce team as the reason behind his ordeals.
The allegation of the arrival of suspected assassins at Maina’s home has introduced a new dimension to the recent ordeal by the ex-penson Taskforce Team boss.
Recall that Maina was advised to flee the country after failed assassination attempts on him during a visit to the Presidential Villa in 2014.
Maina was shot at right after left the villa meeting and he narrowly escaped being killed.