The Senate has yet to consider the report by the ad hoc committee set up to investigate the controversial reinstatement and promotion in the federal civil service of former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdul-Rasheed Maina.
The report was presented by the panel to the chamber over one year ago.
The committee, made up of chairmen and vice-chairmen of Senate committees on Public Service and Establishment; Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters; Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption; and Internal Affairs laid their report on February 14, 2018.
Chairman of the panel, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, made the presentation.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, could not be reached for comments on Thursday. He also did not respond to phone calls and had yet to reply to the text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, had on October 24, 2017, set up the panel to probe into the controversial circumstances surrounding Maina’s return to the civil service after he was dismissed and declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
During the probe, the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd); Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, appeared once before the Senate panel, while the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), appeared no fewer than three times.
Although the panel was mandated to report back to the Senate in two weeks, it did not do so until about four months later.
While the Senate panel conducted its investigative hearings behind closed doors, the House of Representatives conducted a similar probe in a live broadcast.
When contacted earlier in March 2018 to explain the delay, a member of the panel and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, referred our correspondent to Paulker.
Utazi also said it was the duty of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business to list the report on the Order Paper for consideration by the chamber.
Earlier on January 9, 2018, the Senate had asked Malami to explain to Nigerians why he had been “running around the courts” seeking to stop the probe by the National Assembly into Maina’s case.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, had in a statement said the Senate was surprised that the AGF was going to court to stop the legislature’s investigation.
Punch
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