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 fugitive ex-Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
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.
Bình luận