The Senate on Wednesday directed Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Abubakar Magaji, to inform the Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, that he must personally appear to answer questions about the reinstatement of former Pension Chairman, Abdulrasheed Maina into the Federal Civil Service.
In the same vein, the probe will be done behind closed doors.
The Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the matter, Emmanuel Paulker made the disclosure while addressing journalists in Abuja.
Paulker said the committee will make its findings known at the end of the investigations.
He also assured that the committee will be transparent in the course of the proceedings, stressing that nobody would be witch hunted.
He said: “It should be stated for the purpose of emphasis that the National Assembly, which is constitutionally saddled with the responsibilities to perform this exercise, is not expected to base its conclusion on the preponderance of views being expressed from members of the public, hence the need to conduct this investigative hearing to be in the right position to make appropriate recommendations to the Senate.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is pertinent to categorically state that we are on a witch-hunting mission, but to perform our mandate in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended and the Senate Standing Rules.”
Meanwhile, the permanent secretary, Magaji had told members of the Senate ad-hoc committee probing the matter that Dambazau, played no role in the reinstatement of Maina into the ministry.
The permanent secretary stated that the minister neither saw nor received any mail in the process of the controversial reinstatement.
Magaji insisted that he, and not Dambazau, was in the best position to answer questions on the issue as all correspondences were received in his office.
His words: “In a ministry, there are responsibilities. The minister is in charge of policy direction while the permanent secretary’s office is in charge of establishment matters, which we are discussing today; and all correspondences to the ministry were sent to perm sec directly and not to the minister.
“The minister has not seen a single mail related to Maina in his office or directed any action other than the perm sec’s office. That’s why I feel I should be here to assist even though I wasn’t in the ministry when this thing happened.”
He explained that the minister was unable to appear before the committee due to late communication of change in date as he was attending a council meeting.
Apparently unimpressed by the official’s explanation, the lawmakers insisted that Dambazau must appear.
Maina is currently on the run for allegedly committing N2.1 billion fraud while in office.
However, reports had it that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami directed the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) to reinstate Maina, after he secretly returned to the country.