Beleaguered Chairman of the Pension Task Force (PTF), Abdulrasheed Minana has the backing of high-profile government functionaries, the Joint Senate Committee on Establishment, Pubic Service and Local Governments investigating allegations of embezzlement and mismanagement of pension funds said on Tuesday.
The government officials, it also said, constitute a cabal that is more powerful than the notorious oil cabal.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Aloysius Etuk stated this during an interaction with journalists, where he challenged Maina to substantiate his allegation of bribery against members of the committee.
“In the performance of pension probe, I realised I have stepped on very powerful toes, I can tell you that pension cabal is worse than oil cabal,” he said.
“In pension, they are so many people involved. I suspect that Maina has godfathers who are backing him because no ordinary Nigerian will be so arrogant and exhibit such level of exuberance without some backers. It is impossible to flout the law of the land or Civil Service rules without having godfathers giving you false hope.”
He said no amount of blackmail would deter the committee from performing its constitutional responsibility, insisting that no one in the committee has ever collected bribe on its behalf.
“If there is any evidence, Maina should come out prove it to Nigerians. No security agency has ever investigated me on bribery allegation. The allegation is just a mere attempt to distract the committee.
“The committee has the mandate to look into any matter relating to pension in the country; we have oversight on pension offices. We are going to submit our report to the Senate.”
Etuk accused Maina of plotting to distract the committee’s investigations into the missing N195bn pension fund scandal, saying he has had no dealing with any stakeholder in the pension sector besides their appearance.
He also promised that the committee would always give Maina fair hearing despite that he had been misinforming Nigerians on the saga and the committee’s investigations.
