EFCC seals 7 properties linked to wanted ex-pension reforms chief

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has sealed four more properties allegedly owned by runaway former pension reforms boss,

The anti-graft agency had earlier sealed off a $2 million Abuja mansion located at No. 10 Hamisu Musa Road, Jabi, on Monday, October 23, marking it in red with the inscription "EFCC KEEP OFF".

Channels TV later reported that two other properties located in Kaduna had also been sealed by the agency.

One was a two-storey shopping plaza at Number 2C, Ibrahim Taiwo Road and the other, a duplex at Katuru Road.

According to a report by Daily Trust, four other properties at Kawo extension in Kaduna were also sealed later on Tuesday in an operation that lasted for almost two hours.

According to EFCC's Kaduna zonal spokesman, Kamaludeen Gebi, more properties linked to Maina will be promptly sealed by the agency as the former chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms (PTTPR) continues to evade the law.

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Maina was controversially recalled and promoted to head the Ministry of Interior's human resource department, despite pending corruption charges against him.

This was after he was dismissed by the Federal Civil Service Commission in 2013 following a recommendation by the Office of the Head of Service.

In 2015, Maina was charged alongside former Head of Service, Steve Oronsaye, Osarenkhoe Afe and Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited before a Federal High Court on a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretence through the award of fraudulent biometric contracts.

After he was declared wanted over an alleged N2 billion pension fraud, he fled abroad to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), evading the capture of the EFCC.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, and Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, have been reported to be instrumental to the process of Maina's recall.

On Monday, after his reinstatement drew public outcry against the government, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered Maina's 'disengagement' and ordered a full investigation into the circumstances of his recall.

On Tuesday, the Senate and House of Representatives also set up separate ad-hoc committees to investigate the issue.