How Pension Thief, Maina, Used Prominent Nigerians, Brekete Radio To Frustrate Probe

Prominent Nigerians including media and civil rights activist, Isah Ahmed of the Brekete Family were used to wage vendetta and protect convicted pension fund thief, Isah Maina it has emerged.

Habibu Adamu Aliyu, the lead investigator in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC team that uncovered the pension heist by Maina disclosed in an interview that blackmail, thuggery among others were used by Maina and his agents to try to derail the investigations.

Aliyu disclosed that upon the concerted efforts and indications that the government was arranging a rapproachment with Maina that he had to resign from the EFCC given that the government could not protect him and his investigators.

Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust, Aliyu disclosed that Maina and his agents used bribery, and where not, blackmail to intimidate him.

He said:

“One of the major threats from him was media blackmail. In fact, as far as we were concerned, he engaged the services of a prominent radio presenter in Abuja to malign and disparage our image. We kept on saying he could not prove his case, so he should go to court and defend himself, not the court of public opinion.”

Noting how he responded to the attack against him by prominent Nigerians including Brekete Family Radio who were determined to free Maina, Aliyu said:

“So, sometime in December 2015, I sent a memo to the then leadership of the EFCC under Ibrahim Magu, drawing attention to the fact that for several months, there was attack about the pension team in one radio station by Ahmed Isah on Brekete Family, consistently discrediting our investigation, which we found curious. If you have issues with our investigation, go and file charges and defend yourself.

“I drew the attention of the management under Magu, saying the commission should take necessary steps under the law to ensure that we were given the protection to do our work.

“I specifically asked for certain steps to be taken. One was the conduct of the radio station, and that the presenter should be reported to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC); that the coordinated blackmail be investigated and legal action against those behind it.

None was done; and that was when I began to contemplate that there was much more than what I was seeing. If the system you are working for is not willing to defend you, you have to look for alternative ways to defend yourself.

“Four months after, I tendered my letter of resignation to the EFCC, sometime in March 2016. The chairman personally called to prevail and plead with me, saying I was one of their most important investigators. But I said I was leaving because I did not see hope in the system.”

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