Latest News: How Okoi Obono-Obla’s Interview About Maina’s Recall.

How Okoi Obono-Obla’s Interview About Maina’s Recall, Sack Earned Him Suspension

As the controversy surrounding the recall of wanted ex-chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina rages, the Presidency has directed Chairman of the Presidential Special Panel on the

Recovery of Public Property, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, to hands off activities of the panel.

It will be recalled that after the sacking of Maina two weeks ago, Obono-Obla had repeatedly asked whether there was any criminal court pronouncement against Maina to prevent him from being brought back to his former post.

In a recent interview, Obono-Obla was asked whether it was right for Maina to be reinstated before the President fired him two weeks ago.

His response: “I asked them, has he (Maina) been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction?

‘’I am talking as a lawyer and I don’t want to be emotional and sentimental because Nigerians are very emotional and sentimental. As a lawyer, I was trained not to be emotional and not to be sentimental when I am discussing law or involved in a legal argument. If Maina had been convicted, I want to see the certified true copy of the judgment of the court that sentenced him.

Reminded that there was moral burden on Maina not to return to work as he did, Obla had said: “Law and morality are two different things that don’t mix. There is a school of jurisprudence that says you cannot mix law with economics, you cannot mix law with morals, or sociology, history, culture or politics.

‘’So, we are looking at a legal point of view. What does the law say about somebody who has not been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction? Looking at the moral aspect of it, then it is condemnable. But an allegation has been made against somebody, but that allegation has not been ventilated in a court of law.”

On the weighty allegations of fraud against Maina, he said: “Yes, to a lay person, the allegations are immoral, but the man had not been convicted. I was saying (in the Channel’s interview) that nobody should blame Mr. President or bring him into this issue.

‘’The discipline of civil servants is not the prerogative of Mr. President. There is a body established by law, known as the Federal Civil Service Commission; it is one of the executive bodies established by the law.

‘’Members of that commission are appointed by the President, subject to the confirmation by the Senate. The FCSC is supposed to be a body detached from political interference.

‘’If a civil servant has been charged to court, the normal procedure is that the Permanent Secretary in the ministry he is working with would be notified and then a certified true copy of the charge against him would be brought to the Permanent Secretary in the ministry.

‘’The civil servant would now be placed on suspension and sometimes, such a worker is placed on half pay. If the court now finds him guilty, it is not enough. Then the ministry has to report to the FCSC.

‘’This is because the FCSC is responsible for the recruitment, promotion and discipline of senior civil servants from Level 8 to Level 17. Then they would now initiate disciplinary measures to be meted out on the civil servant. When they find the civil servant guilty or liable, then they inform the President.

Reminded that Maina had been declared wanted by the EFCC, Obla declared: “The EFCC is not a court of law, the Supreme Court has said that in several cases.

‘’So, if somebody is being declared wanted by the EFCC, it does not amount to the person being adjudged a criminal. After investigation, the matter must go before the court.

Vanguard Newspaper