Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has issued a statement to confirm the arrest and detention of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT). Mr Peter Afunanya, DSS’s spokesman said on Wednesday that Maina was picked up in an Abuja hotel on September 30, 2019.
According to Afunanya, Maina’s son attempted to shoot the DSS operatives that effected the arrest.
“The arrest which was effected at the Pennsylvania Avenue Hotel, Utako, Abuja followed a request by the EFCC to the Service to assist in the apprehension of the suspect,” the statement read. Maina was arrested in company of his 20-year-old son, Faisal Abdulrasheed Maina, who unsuccessfully tried to resist the arrest. The lad even pulled a pistol against the security agents involved in the operation. He was, however, disarmed and arrested. He is a final year student at the Canadian University of Dubai where he is studying Telecoms Engineering”
The statement listed the Items recovered from the suspects to include a pistol with live ammunition, a bullet proof Range Rover SUV, a BMW Saloon car, foreign currencies, a Phantom 7 drone and sensitive documents. “The suspects and the recovered items will be handed over to the EFCC for further investigations and appropriate necessary actions2, it concluded.
The Federal Civil Service Commission dismissed Maina in 2013 for absconding from duty. He was accused of a N100billion pension fraud. The Senate joint committee on public service establishment thereafter issued a warrant of arrest against him as a result of its investigations. Subsequently, the police declared him wanted and he went into hiding.
In 2017, he returned to Nigeria under controversial circumstances and he was reinstated as a director in the ministry of interior. After an initial period of dillydallying and buck passing by top government officials, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered his dismissal and demanded a probe into his recall.
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