Less than a week after declaring him wanted, men of the Nigerian Police Force have begun a manhunt for Chairman of the Pension reform Task Force, Abdulrasheed Maina, Assistant Force Public Relations Officer of the Police, Mr. Frank Mba has said.
According to Mba, Maina would be arrested once he is seen, based on the Warrant of Arrest issued by the Senate, and its insistence that President Goodluck Jonathan must sack the embattled official.
He assured that Maina, an Assistant Director of Works in the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office, would be apprehended.
“We are irrevocably committed to arresting Maina,” he said. “As soon as we lay our hands on him, we will arrest and take him before the Senate.”
He added that the Police was only doing its job by declaring Maina wanted because he went into hiding, thereby making it difficult for the Police to execute the warrant of arrest that was legitimately issued against him.
Mba, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), denied that the wanted Maina had Police protection as was widely believed. He said the pension boss has no police officer in his entourage.
He recalled that even in the press release that the Police earlier issued to declare Maina wanted, the law enforcement agency announced that any citizen who had any information that could lead to Maina’s whereabouts and aid his arrest should assist.
He said the Police would be pleased to get such information and would be very careful to avoid involvement in unnecessary controversy.
“The only thing is that the Senate has issued a warrant of arrest on Maina and that is where we come in,” he said.
Maina was declared wanted by the Police after the Senate, on December 13, 2012, issued a Warrant of Arrest against him and mandated Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar to arrest him and produce him before the Senate Joint Committee on the Investigation of Pension Funds.
Taking it from there, the Police declared Maina wanted at the beginning of February, saying he had since gone into hiding.
