From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation has said it is an error for the public to assume that because a director in the civil service was recommended for sack, it is automatic.

The Assistant Director (Press), Office of Head of Service of the Federation, Mohammed Manga, said this in reaction to a report that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has secretly reinstated former chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil service.

Maina was in 2013 recommended for dismissal by the Federal Civil Service Commission following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service.

In 2012, Maina was accused of leading a massive pension fraud scheme amounting to more than N100 billion. He was drafted by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2010 to sanitize a corrupt pension system.

Based on the allegation of corruption, Mr. Maina was invited by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration.

According to Manga in a telephone interview with Daily Sun, “You journalists should start reading civil servant rules and be properly informed so as not to misinform the public. Nobody will dismiss a director from service just by recommendations. A civil service director is not a political appointment, every one of them wrote exams and got promoted to that position, so sacking a director even an assistant is not easy. The Civil Service Commission are the ones constitutional backed to engage, discipline and promote a civil servant.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Interior, Gen (retd) Abdulrahman Dambazau, ha denied having a hand in the recall of Maina in his ministry.

The Press Secretary to the Minister of Interior, Ehisienmen Osaigbovo, in a statement said, Maina was posted few days ago to the Ministry of Interior by the Office of the Head of Service on an Acting capacity to fill a vacancy created following the retirement of the Director heading the Human Resources Department in the Ministry.

The statement titled “Re-Buhari Administration Recalls Wanted Ex-Pension Boss Sacked for Alleged Corruption” read:

“The publication which queries the re-instatement of former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms reportedly claimed that the Interior Minister was one of those behind the said re-instatement. It is observed that some insinuations as it concerns the Interior Minister were presented as facts, hence the compelling need to proffer some clarifications for reference purposes.