MAINA ON HIS OWN - JONATHAN •We are committed to arresting Maina - Police

BARELY 24 hours after the Senate ordered President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the Chairman of the Pension Task force, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina or face the wrath of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, the President has acted swiftly by referring the case of the embattled Chairman to the Head of Service of the Federation for an immediate action.


The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Communication,Dr Doyin Okupe who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday debunked the speculations in some quarters that the Presidency was shielding Alhaji Maina, saying the man was on his own.

Dr Okupe, while stating that the existing relationship between the presidency and and the National Assembly as a whole was so deep that President Jonathan would not do anything to udermine it under any guise.

According to him, “when the Senate formally informed President last week about Maina’s case, he immediately summoned the Inspector General of Police to declare him wanted because of his refusal to honour the several invitations extended to him to defend himself.”

He explained that sections 87 and 88 of the Constitution of the country empowered the senate to summon any individual or government official to appear before it and that several individuals and government officials had been appearing before it since the inception of the administration. Jonathan as a law abiding person who swore on oath to defend the same Constitution would not support anybody to flout the same constitution.

According to him,” Maina is a civil servant and his matter has accordingly been referred to the Head of Service of the federation for full investigation and appropriate action taken against him in line with Civil Service Rules and regulations.”

Also, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said in Abuja that Maina’s fate could only be decided along the line of the civil service rules.
While acknowledging the constitutional right of the Senate to summon him, the President’s spokesman noted that this position did not mean that President Jonathan has thrown his weight in favour of the embattled Pension Reform boss.

He said that in the same way,  as a man that believes in the rule of law, the President’s disposition was for the laid down procedure to be followed in addressing issues, explaining that the procedure was that it was the  Head of Service of the Federation that could take a decision concerning a civil servant according to civil service rule.

According to Abati, “The Senate has constitutional power to summon anybody. If such person failed to appear before them, the lawmakers are also empowered to issue warrant of arrest against the person.”

On the alleged marginalization of the South- West zone, Dr Okupe attributed this to what he termed as selfish interest of some Peoples Democratic party (PDP) leaders from the zone and the conspiracy of the leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which robbed the Zone of the Speaker of the House of Representatives slot earmarked for it.

Dr Okupe however said that the matter was being addressed by President Jonathan with all seriousness in order to correct the anormally,saying that it was not in the best interest of the President to marginalise any zone of the Country.

We are committed to arresting Maina - Police
The Police yesterday vowed that they are irrevocably committed to arresting  Maina of the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office (CIPPO), who they had earlier declared wanted.

Force spokesman, CSP Frank Mba, who reiterated the commitment of the police while speaking to journalists said that   whatever happens, Maina will be arrested in accordance with the directive of the Senate.

“The Nigeria Police Force remains irrevocably committed to finding him. As soon as we lay our hands on him, we will arrest him and take him before the Senate.

“If you are conversant with the policing tradition, you will understand that the declaration of any person wanted is usually necessitated by a need.

“In this case, he was declared wanted because he went into hiding and that made it difficult for the Force to execute the warrant of arrest that was legitimately issued against him,” he said.

On the allegation that Maina was being guarded by the police, Mba said that he had no such guard. “Maina has no police officer in his entourage to the best of my knowledge. Even in the press release that we gave, we did say that any citizen who has any information that could help us in finding and executing that order, that person should please pass the information to the appropriate authorities. If anyone has the information on how we can get him, we will be pleased to have it,” he said.

According to him, the police will not allow themselves to be pulled into unnecessary controversy.

“The only thing is that Senate has issued a warrant of arrest on Maina and that is where we come in,” he said.

It is recalled that the Senate had on Dec. 13, 2012, issued a Warrant of Arrest against Maina.

The warrant also mandated the Inspector-General of Police to arrest and produce Maina before the Senate Joint Committee on the Investigation of Pension Fund.

The police, on February 1, declared Maina wanted saying that he had since gone into hiding, making it difficult for the police to execute the warrant.

Senate can’t dictate to Jonathan on Maina —Abayomi
Meanwhile, as the face-off between the legislative and the executive arms of government  deepens over the refusal of President Goodluck Jonathan to sack Maina, a constitutional lawyer has said the lawmakers were wrong.

According to him, it is illegal for the lawmakers to issue ultimatums to the President on who to hire or fire.

Renowned constitutional lawyer and gubernatorial aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Dr Tunji Abayomi made this assertion in a statement made available in Lagos on Thursday.

He added that though the pension boss acted illegally by his refusal to appear before the upper legislative chamber, the Senators have no right to dictate to the president to sack him.

Abayomi in the statement, further stated that the Senators are constitutionally empowered to issue a warrant of arrest on Maina if he wilfully chose to ignore their invitation instead of issuing ultimatum to the president to sack him.

“It should be clearly established that Maina has a duty and obligation to respect a summon by the Senate as a public officer on a matter within the investigatory authority of the Senate under section 88 and 89.

“Consequently, the refusal of Maina to appear while still in office is contemptious of legislative power of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and it is violative of Maina’s constitutional duty as a public officer.

“The Senate, in consequence has the right to insist that he should appear or issue a warrant for his arrest and it should be expected that the executive will execute any such warrant in keeping with its duty under the separate powers.

“Having said that on the ultimatum, given by the Senate, It is important to recognise that the exercise of legislative power is the exercise of delegated power. That is to say that the power of the people of Nigeria delegated to the Senate to be exercised according to the prescription of our imperfect constitution.

“The sole essence of that power is to make law for peace, order and good government. The supervisory authority over public affairs is not the same thing as to supervise the president in the discharge of his executive powers or to teleguide him, give him directions or directives, tell him who to hire and fire or give him a prescription on the current of his executive authority
“The Senate cannot constitutionally give the president an ultimatum to remove an executive officer of the president or to employ anybody. If that were to be allowed, great danger will be done to the principle of separation of powers which is the fundamental pillar on which all constitutional democracy is placed. The president has executive powers unsubjected to anybody, except to the laws of the land,” he said.Source:tribune.com