The Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, on
Monday, failed to persuade the Federal High Court in Abuja to grant an
interim
injunction stopping the Senate from probing the controversial reinstatement of
former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr.
Abdulrasheed Maina, into the Civil Service
The AGF had
gone before the court to challenge the powers of the National Assembly to
investigate circumstances that led to Maina’s recall, four years after he was
dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission for absconding from duty.
Maina who was dismissed from service in 2013 following a recommendation by the
Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, was recalled last year and
deployed to the Ministry of Interior under controversial circumstances. His
reinstatement was purportedly based on a memo from the office of the AGF.
According to Vanguardngr, Malami had
in a letter with Ref. No. HAGF/FCSC/2017/Vol. 1/3, directed the FCSC to give
consequential effect to a judgment he said voided the process that led to
Maina’s dismissal from service. On the strenght of the letter, the FCSC, at the
end of a meeting it held on June 14, 2017, requested the Office of the Head of
the Civil Service of the Federation, OHCSF, vide a letter marked
FC.4029/82/Vol. III/160, and dated June 21, 2017, to advise the Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Interior to consider the AGF’s letter and make
appropriate recommendations regarding Maina’s case. In line with the directive,
the Ministry of Interior, at its Senior Staff Committee meeting held on June
22, 2017, placed reliance on the AGF’s letter and recommended that Maina be
reinstated into the Service as Deputy Director on Salary Grade Level 16.
Consequently, the FCSC, on August 16, 2017, approved the reinstatement of Maina
with effect from February 21, 2013 (being the date he was earlier dismissed
from Service The FCSC further okayed Maina to sit for the next promotion
examination to the post of Director (Administration) with Salary Grade Level
17. However, recall of the former pension boss into the civil service
sparked-off a public protest that forced President Muhammadu Buhari to order
his immediate sack, with the Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita queried.
Meanwhile, in the heat of the situation and leakage of several memos that
traced Maina’s recall to the office of the AGF, Malami, insisted that he acted
in the national interest. Determined to get to the root of the saga however,
both the Senate and the House of Representatives constituted different panels
to investigate the matter. Following AGF’s claim that the letters could not
have legally emanated from him, the Senate, which had already commenced its own
probe, decided to carry out forensic examination of all the correspondences
that led to Maina’s reinstatement. In a bid to stop the process, the AGF, filed
the ex-parte motion that was declined by the court on Monday. Specifically, the
AGF prayed the court to among other things, determine whether the National
Assembly has the right to probe issues relating to the “employment, attendance
at work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant”. He
wants the court to declare that: “The employment, attendance at work,
disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant are matters
outside the exclusive and concurrent legislative lists contained in the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). “That the
National Assembly cannot legitimately regulate the employment, attendance at
work, disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant, which
are matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal Civil Service
Commission under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 (as
amended)”. As well as to declare “That the National Assembly lacks the
legislative competence to investigate the employment, attendance at work,
disengagement, reinstatement and or promotion of a civil servant which are
matters exclusively within the purview of the Federal Civil Service Commission
under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 (as amended). The
AGF contended that the power of investigation vested on the National Assembly
by section 88 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999
(as amended) is limited and such that can only be exercised within the confines
of Section 88 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999
(as amended). He argued that being the chief law officer and Minister of
Justice of the federation, that he was bound to ensure compliance by the
Federal Government of Nigeria and or any of its cognate organs/agencies with
the express or implied contents of extant Judgements and Orders of competent
courts in Nigeria. According to the AGF, “The defendant cannot constitute
itself into a quasi-appellate court, tribunal or panel with a view to reviewing
any executive action taken in compliance with the adverse judgment in the said
Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/65/2013.”
Meantime, instead of granting the ex-parte order
to halt further investigation into the matter, Justice Binta Nyako who heard
the application in chambers on Monday, ordered the AGF to go and put the
National Assembly on notice. Justice Nyako further directed that all the court
processes should be served on the National Assembly to enable it to appear
before the court to show cause why the orders sought by the AGF should not be
granted. The suit was adjourned till January 15 for the National Assembly to
show cause why the ongoing probe should not be stopped.
It will be recalled
that Maina who is currently in hiding, was accused of complicity in pension
fraud running into over N100 billion. The Senate had at the end of an earlier
investigation by its joint committee on public service and establishment and
state and local government administration, issued a warrant of arrest for
Maina’s arrest. The former pension boss was subsequently declared wanted by the
Police, following which he reportedly fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a
development that led to his dismissal from service in 2013.
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