Pension fund probe: I’ve never been on the run - Maina

FORMER chairman of the now-rested Pension Reform Task Team, Mr Abdulrasheed Maina, has denied speculations that he has been on the run since his probe began and accused those spreading the false information as ones that have cases to answer.
Maina was alleged to have misappropriated pension funds worth billions of naira believed to have been recovered from pension thieves by his team.
A Senate committee probing the pension funds management had accused him of mopping up pension funds from banks and depositing same in his private accounts, a situation it alleged made it impossible to pay thousands of pensioners across the country for months.
But reacting to the speculations that he had fled the country, Maina said he had no reason to flee as he was no criminal but a citizen that had served the country well, especially in realising the pension reform agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Maina spoke with journalists in Abuja, at the weekend, during a wedding ceremony of a relation.
According to him, Nigerians would soon get to know the truth about his travails in the hands of the Senate and what led to the dissolution of the pension task team.
“Those spreading the false information in the media that I have relocated from Nigeria are the very people who have cases to answer and you the media know them.
“Some have been convicted, others have had their assets seized by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the orders of the court.
“I laugh when people say I am on the run. I ask ‘why should I be on the run?’ I have served this country well and have continued to receive commendations from those I worked to give hope to pensioners,” he said.
It will be recalled that the Maina-led task team was dissolved by President Jonathan on the insistence by the Senate early in the year and after he failed to appear before its committee to offer explanation on the allegation that some senators demanded and received the sum of N3 billion of the pension fund, among others.
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