David Mark, former Senate
President has disclosed the senate threatened former President Goodluck
Jonathan before he sacked the embattled former chairman of the Presidential
Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina in 2013.
Mark disclosed that the senate
opted to threaten Jonathan into sacking Maina because the former Pension boss
ignored several summons to appear before a Senate committee investigating
allegations of his mismanagement of pension funds as chairman.
This was contained in a book, “Against
the Run of Play,” written by the Chairman of the Editorial Board of ThisDay
Newspaper, Olusegun Adeniyi.
Mark said the Senate took the
step because Maina, “You know he is a very loud fellow who talks too much.
“He was all over the place,
boasting about his connection to the Presidential Villa and kept on bluffing
the Senate.
“To compound the issue, he was
indeed seen driving in and out of Aso Rock in a convoy of vehicles with police
escort. It was at a point when I couldn’t take the nonsense any longer that
that I decided on the letter to the President.”
The book quoted the then Senate
President as saying on February 13, 2013 the senate gave Jonathan a two-day
ultimatum to sack Maina from the civil service.
The ultimatum was sequel to a
motion titled: “Dismissal of Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina for refusal to appear
before the Senate”, sponsored by the former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba,
and 107 senators.
Following the adoption of the
motion, Mark said the Senate as an institution had been pushed to the wall and
could no longer tolerate the insolence of public officials working for the
executive.
Mark was quoted as saying, ”The
Executive has to choose between the Senate and Maina. He has crucified himself.
If Maina remains, then the Senate would react appropriately. The Senate is not
lacking in ideas on what to do.
“Nobody in this country is bigger
than our democracy. I have been extremely patient with Maina, so that when we
react, they will know that we have been fair.”
Mark also disclosed that the
Upper Legislative Chamber had ordered police to arrest Maina over his repeated
refusal to honour the invitation and to prosecute him for allegedly stealing
pension funds.
He said, “This Senate is not
going to allow this to linger. If in two days they (the police) have not done
anything, we can come here and convene and take a decision. This Senate will
bite when it needs to bite, and when we decide to bite, there will be no room
for escape.
“The reaction is the correct
reaction; no matter the depth of the Maina situation, nobody in this country
will be left to go free, if he is associated with Maina. No matter who is
behind Maina, we are not going to accept it.”
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