Presidency has no fresh information on Maina’s whereabouts – Okupe

The Presidency Thursday declared the embattled Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, a fugitive who is on the run and must be tracked down by the police.
The Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe, who was speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, refuted allegations that the Presidency was shielding Maina and assured that everything was being done to ensure he was arrested and made to answer allegations of corruption levelled against him by the Senate Committee that probed pension fund administration.

According to Dr Okupe, “the Presidency is not hobnobbing with Maina. The Presidency is not shielding Maina. I also heard somebody mention that Maina is on the list of the President’s trip to Switzerland. That is not correct. The President is not even going to Switzerland.
“Whether he has regard for the Head of Service of the Federation does not matter. The police have a job to do and I believe that they have the capability to do that, and they will do it. The fact now is that Maina is a fugitive and he is on the run.
“The President cannot issue a warrant of arrest of a citizen, he cannot ask for a citizen to be disciplined, and at the same time use its own machinery to hide the person. This is not the kind of Presidency we have.
“We must search for him (Maina) and there is nowhere to hide in the world anymore. If it is true that Maina is outside the country, the Interpol can trace him and they will get him.