N195bn Pension Scam: Group Demands Apology From Senator Gaya
Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya[/caption]
Following the disclosure by Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, representing Kano South constituency, that the alleged missing pension N195 billion is part of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, the Nigeria Accountability Forum, NAF, has demanded an apology from the Senate to Nigerians and particularly to all those alleged to have stolen the sum.
National Legal Officer of the NAF, Bar. Austine Kanu, in a statement in Abuja on Saturday said that the Senate owes Nigerians a duty of truth, stressing that people have lost their jobs, reputation and scandalised over poor diligence by the Senate in their oversight function.
According to Kanu, Gaya had cleared the air in an interview he granted the Sun Newspaper on April 3, 2016 where he admitted that the alleged missing N195 billion which was attributed to the leadership of the Pension Task Team in 2012, was part of the monies currently in the government’s Single Treasury Account (TSA), at the CBN.
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This is what Gaya said: “You remember I was a member of the 6th and 7th Senate and I am still a member of the 8th National Assembly. During the 7th Senate, we were able to do a probe of the pension scam. I was a co-chair of that committee. During that investigation, we were able to discover N195 billion stocked in accounts of various Departments, Agencies and Ministries (MDAs) for pension and they were not using those monies. These are kinds of money that form part of the TSA and it is a welcome idea. It is an excellent idea. Now, we can use money we have to achieve what we want.”
The NAF legal officer expressed the worry that after the clarification, Senator Gaya that led the witch-hunt against the Pension Reform Task Team and especially its erstwhile chairman, Mallam. Abdulrasheed Maina, “has not deemed it necessary to admit that the senate erred, and apologise to those they wrongfully maligned. He added that Maina lost his job and his name dragged in the mud as a result of that defamation, also that many Nigerians see him as a thief that he never was.
“We would be compelled to seek legal redress for these patriotic Nigerians if Senator Gaya does not do what is honourable by admitting that in their haste, they committed grave error.”
It would be recalled that Senators Aloysius Etok and Kabiru Gaya had in 2012/2013 alleged that the PRTT headed by Maina mismanaged N195 billion of pension funds in some pension agencies.
