Ex president battles sitting president over Maina

The reappearance of Abdulrasheed Maina, the fugitive who was fired from the civil service in 2013, has pit former President Goodluck Jonathan against incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari blames Jonathan for Maina’s reinstatement and of course Jonathan is having none of it.

Both men have been speaking through their aides.

Garba Shehu spoke for Buhari and Ikechukwu Eze responded for Jonathan.

Get in!

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Garba Shehu:

“Some influential officials loyal to the previous government may have been the invisible hand in the latest scandal that saw the return of Maina to the public service, despite being on the EFCC’s wanted list.

“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.

“Over and over again, President Buhari’s government has pointed out that the administration’s greatest problem is the mess left behind by the previous government. Maina is just one more example.

“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.

“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”.

Ikechukwu Eze:

“It is ridiculous to say that Jonathan’s loyalists brought Maina back into service. Is it his loyalists that are in government? Somebody who has left office over two years, his loyalists still brought in a fugitive to power? It is laughable.

“Is it his loyalists that also promoted him and made him an acting director from the position of an assistant director? These are the questions they should answer.

“It is funny. It doesn’t make any sense. Is it Jonathan’s men that reinstated him into office, wrote a letter to him and asked him to return to work?

“This was a fugitive that ran away from Jonathan’s government and it was Jonathan’s men who also put him in office? Someone who ran from the law? It doesn’t make sense.”

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Oh well, the PDP and APC also traded jabs over Maina. Here goes….

APC through spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi:

“While focusing on the fact that Maina was reinstated which we said was an embarrassment to our government and our party, we must not forget that there is an original sin.

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“And that original sin was that Maina has been accused of one of the most monumental acts of corruption in the nation’s history but that was only possible under a PDP government.

“We must not forget that Maina is one of the toxic elements that the PDP left behind; so, they cannot distance themselves from him.”

PDP through spokesperson Dayo Adeyeye:

"Who takes decisions for government? Is it civil servants or the government itself? This is government of liars. This administration has lost focus.

“For how long will this government continue to lie and show its incapability? Are the AGF and others loyalists of Jonathan? If you talk of civil service, Jonathan inherited the civil service. Civil service serves every government that comes into power.

“Maybe Buhari should sack all of them. It is shameful. This government brought in Maina secretly and reinstated him thinking that Nigerians won’t know.

“It is very shameful on Buhari’s government. Nothing is truthful about this government.”

ALSO READ: Full story of the 'pension thief' who served in Buhari's government

Meanwhile, Maina is on the run again….