In a statement published on Wednesday, presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu described Mr. Maina as “one of the monsters created by the former PDP government,” and said that the opposition party therefore has no right to criticize the Buhari government over the matter.
The Office of the Presidency condemned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari over the Abdulrasheed Maina scandal.
In a statement published on Wednesday, presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu described Mr. Maina as “one of the monsters created by the former PDP government,” and said that the opposition party therefore has no right to criticize the Buhari government over the matter.
Mr. Shehu emphasized that Mr. Maina was a top member of the Goodluck Jonathan government and was involved in a multi-billion naira pension scandal that benefited several members of the Jonathan administration.
“Top officials in the PDP government, from sectoral heads to those charged with responsibility for law and order, received some of these billions of naira from Maina,” the spokesperson said. “We have all the transaction records and these are matters that the EFCC has been pursuing to ensure that they all have their day in court.”
Mr. Shehu suggested that PDP members who served in the previous administration might have played a role in Mr. Maina’s reinstatement.
He assured Nigerians that the Buhari government was committed to investigating Mr. Maina’s reinstatement.
“Everything will be uncovered in due course. This just goes to show us the scale of corruption that this government is fighting. And, as we can all see, corruption keeps fighting back viciously,” Mr Shehu said.
