Chairman of the Senate Joint Committee on Establishment, States and Local Government, Senator Aloysius Etok yesterday declared that the Pension Reform Task Team head by Abdulrasheed Maina stole pension funds.
Etok who was reacting to an allegation of bribery and bias leveled against the committee by the chairman of the Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina called on the Nigerian Police, Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), to commence investigation? into the allegation.
Etok who stated that the report of the Senate Committee would be out soon, said Maina had refused to appear at public hearing to defend himself “on numerous petitions and evidence of embezzlement, misapproriation, misapplication and outright stealing of pension funds that are backed up with original documents and exhibits thereto proving Maina’s culpability
“ Ordinarily, this committee and I had intended to disregard such foul alarm and cheap blackmail as a mere ranting of a fraudulent, corrupt and crooked fellow since such is orchestrated to divert attention from bare facts and incontrovertible evidence of fraud, misappropriation, mismanagement and outright stealing of pensions funds by the Pension Reform Task Team”.
Etok further offered himself? to be tied to a stake and shot if it was found that he asked for N2 billion bribes from the Pension Reform Taskforce Team.
He said, “I come from very humble background. I have never seen N1 billion before not to talk of asking for N2 billion, probably if I see N1 billion, I will collapse and die, so I cannot ask for such bribe.
“I call on the Nigeria Police Force, the ICPC, and other law enforcement agencies to commence investigation into this allegation. If proved to be true, I shall offer myself to be tied to the stake and be shot as an additional antidote for craft and corruption in our society.”
Dismissing the bribery allegations further, Etok said he would never have anything to do with pension money which he described as blood money.
According to him, “Even if I need money, I would not want pension money because it is blood money. If you show affluence with the money here on earth, God will put you in abject poverty in hell.”