Maina’s reinstatement not surprising – PDP

By Grace Danjuma and Hafsat Abdullahi

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the reinstatement of former chairman of the defunct Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reform, Abdulrasheed Maina, by the Federal Government is not a surprise.
It said the action was a confirmation of the classic novel by a British author, Jeffery Archer titled “Honour among thieves”, where he postulated that criminals do not compromise the actions of other criminals”.
A statement by the party’s spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, in Abuja in which the former ruling party warned that corruption would soon consume the country, it said Nigerians had expected Maina to be arrested instead of being reinstated.
He said, “It is in the light of this that the PDP wishes to state that we are not too shocked at the steps taken by the administration of the All Progressives Congress in reinstating a supposed criminal and fugitive, Abdulrasheed Maina to office instead of getting him arrested.
“Birds of a feather flock together. All people of good conscience will not forget in a hurry that Maina, who was given an assignment by the last administration of the PDP to superintend the now defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, dipped his hands into the jar and helped himself to N100 billion of what he was supposed to safeguard.
“With good conscience at fighting corruption, the PDP government then mandated the anti-corruption agencies to perform their constitutional duty. Maina fled, only to resurface in the country four months ago under the Buhari administration.
“As a party of good conscience, we wish to condemn in strongest terms the penchant of the administration of President Buhari to giving safe haven to known criminals while hoodwinking Nigerians that it’s fighting corruption”.
Adeyeye said that PDP was growing fatigued shouting itself hoarse in protest against nepotism, which he said was a clear form of corruption under Buhari’s administration which he alleged had been elevated to statecraft.
He added that the party was appalled that the alleged reinforcement of financial corruption by this government might soon lead to the demise of this nation “if the celestial does not intervene.”