Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winnifred Oyo-Ita, Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari during the FEC meeting
The Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari
and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, on
Wednesday embraced publicly before the commencement of the meeting of the
Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The development came a week after the two top
government officials engaged in an altercation at the same venue.
Oyo-Ita on arrival at the council chambers’ venue
for the meeting went straight to greet Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
She was still discussing with Osinbajo when Kyari
arrived.
All smiles, Kyari and Oyo-Ita embraced as
cameramen struggled to get good shots of the public display of reconciliation.
Other members of the council clapped for them as
the drama unfolded.
A heated argument had taken place between the two
officials last week.
The altercation was believed to be the fallout of
the leaked memo, which Oyo-Ita sent to Kyari on the controversial reinstatement
and subsequent posting of the embattled former Chairman of the Pension Reform
Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina.
The clash between the two officials took place in
the presence of Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki; Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara; National Chairman of the All
Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun; service chiefs and ministers.
The leaked memo, titled, ‘Re: Abdulrasheed
Abdullahi Maina,’ was Oyo-Ita’s response to President Muhammadu Buhari’s
directive that she should investigate the circumstances that surrounded the
return of Maina to the civil service.
He gave the directive following the public outcry
that greeted Maina’s reinstatement.
Maina, whose whereabouts are still unknown, has
been accused of embezzling pensioners’ funds running into billions of naira and
is under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The memo started by stating, “Further to your
letter Ref. SH/COS/100/A/1570 dated 23rd October, 2017 on the above subject
matter, I write to inform you of the circumstances leading to the irregular
recall of Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina.
“I wrote to place on record the following facts
as it pertains to Mr. A. A. Maina who was dismissed from service on 21st February,
2013.
“The move to recall Mr. A. A. Maina was at the
instance of a series of letters from the Attorney General of the Federation to
the Federal Civil Service Commission requesting the commission to give
consequential effect to the judgment that voided the warrant of arrest issued
against Mr. A. A. Maina which formed the basis for the query and his eventual
dismissal.”
It concluded, “Please note that the OHCSF was
never in agreement with the reinstatement and consequently never conveyed the
approval of the FCSC to Mr. A. A. Maina nor approved his posting to the
Ministry of Interior or any other MDA. Rather, I sought audience with His
Excellency, Mr. President, on Wednesday, 11th October, 2017 after the FEC
meeting where I briefed His Excellency verbally on the wide-ranging
implications of the reinstatement of Mr. A. A. Maina, especially the damaging
impact on the anti-corruption stance of this administration.”
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