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Corruption: How Nigerian Attorney General Abubakar Malami, Top Officials, Helped Fugitive Maina To Evade Arrest, Trial For 6 Years

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For six years, Abdulrasheed Maina has been evading the laws before his
eventual arrest on Tuesday.

Maina had been milking funds meant for Nigerian pensioners through his
position as chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) before his
dismissal in 2013 following a fraud of N2 billion.

In 2015, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, pressed
charges of corruption on him and his accomplices. He fled the country
before the trial could commence prompting the issuance of an arrest
warrant against him, and his listing on INTERPOL’s Red Notice.

Though Maina’s name was placed on the INTERPOL’s wanted list it
suddenly disappeared from the International police platform and Maina
freely globe-trotted, including meeting with the current Attorney
General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, in Dubai.

In September 2017, Maina was secretly reappointed into the Nigeria
Civil Service as he was issued a letter recalling him to the civil
service and posted as acting director of Human Resources at the
Ministry of Interior.

This drew a lot a public outcry and criticism forcing the president to
eventually dismiss him from his administration.

It was discovered that Malami was behind Maina’s reinstatement as he
gave positive legal advice and recommended that he should be
reabsorbed into the civil service.

This was after Malami met with Maina in Dubai, a move that was backed
by the former Director General of the State Security Services, Lawal
Daura.

Malami further confirmed his role in protecting Maina from the long
arms of the law in January 2018 when he spoke on The Interview, a
magazine programme.

Malami said: “At the time the meeting was held with Maina, Mr.
President was not aware. But much later, after we returned back home,
I took Mr. President into confidence about the information and sought
leave to share it with other agencies with the purpose of blocking
leakages.

“That was the extent to which the President was aware of the
information. He came to be aware of the meeting with Maina much later.
It was out of the desire to seek for his directives relating to the
information in terms of its application for the purpose of blocking
leakages associated with the looting of pension funds.”

In 2018, he also asked the court to order the senate to stop the probe of Maina.

Daura, another individual that was supporting Maina, has been abetting
top criminals in the country to evade justice during his tenure as he
helped notorious 419 kingpin, Emmanuel Nwude evades arrest.

Daura connived with the ex-Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun,
and shielded Nwude from arrest before the special crack team of the
EFCC was able to eventually arrest Nwude in the guesthouse of the
former Police IG.

Similarly, Daura helped Maina become invisible as he went around with
DSS operatives as a bodyguard.

It was discovered that during the search for Maina in 2017, Daura made
the DSS and the Nigeria Police Force to provide protection for Maina.
The DSS also provided an accommodation for him where he safely hid
with DSS personnel guarding the house.

The change of guard in the DSS exposed Maina as he was eventually
arrested on Monday by the DSS that once protected him from the law.

Another top government official, Abdulrahman Dambazau, was identified
to have helped Maina evaded arrest.

Dambazau, former Minister of Interior, was part of the top individuals
behind Maina’s reinstatement into the civil service.

The Senior Staff Committee of the Interior Ministry headed by Mr.
Dambazau recommended and played a major role in ensuring that Maina
was reinstated.

Corroborating the support Maina received from top government official,
a source said that Maina was “a friend of the government, no
enforcement agency would dare take him into custody.”

Maina in January 2019 secured a court order stopping the EFCC from
declaring him wanted.

Justice Giwa Ogunbanjo of the federal high court described the action
of the anti-graft agency in declaring Maina wanted as unlawful, but
the commission vowed to appeal against the order.