Maina Sues EFCC, Magu For Slander

Former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reform, Abdulrasheed Maina, has filed a N10 billion suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Ibrahim Magu, acting Chairman of the agency.

In the suit filed before a High Court in Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital, by James Onyilo, Maina’s counsel, the embattled former pension boss accused Magu of granting press interviews which are “slanderous, untrue and malicious”.

Maina, in the writ of summons, asked the Court for a declaration that the interview granted in November and December by Magu are defamatory, slanderous, untrue, injurious and intended to lower his reputation and integrity.

He also asked the Court to order Magu and the EFCC to retract and publish an unreserved apology to him in at least three daily newspapers with an order directing the defendants to pay jointly the sum of N10billion ‎as damages for the publications.

In the statement of claim, Onyilo said,

“The 1st defendant (Magu), who has a personal score and vendetta to settle with the plaintiff, using the instrumentality of the 2nd defendant‎ (EFCC), maliciously embarked on a campaign of calumny against the plaintiff,” the statement of claim read in part.

“The plaintiff avers that on the 30th of November 2017, the 1st defendant in the cause of a press interview aired different news report as well as on Internet medium of the various news media agencies made.

“The following statement, ‘it is terrible, as a result of Maina’s action, so many people, so many of our fathers and mothers who render service to this country had premature death, so many people had died he has been a civil servant, an assistant director. You people should stop celebrating criminals’

“In a related development, on the 14th of December, 2017, the 1st defendant‎ was captured on air during another press interview at the International Airport, Abuja, where he further made the following statement, ‘we are working very hard to get the criminal who stole pension money and decided to go into hiding because you people are the ones covering him, we will surely get the criminal and bring him to justice.’