A man like Luca Brasi, by Andrew Agbese
In Mario Puzo’s best selling fictional work, ‘The Godfather’, Don Vito Corleone, the revered mafia king, pleased with his successor son’s choice of an enforcer (hit man in today’s gangster world) decided to enunciate the wisdom in choosing a man like Albert Neri.
The taciturn king of the mafia, told Michael (his son), laconically that he’s happy that the young man has found his own ‘Luca Brasi.’
It was as apt description of a man fit to play that role as characters like Brasi are hard to find. Until he went missing, Brasi had served as the Don’s enforcer for many years and was known for his daredevil exploits.
But that was not what intrigued the Godfather about him: the old man had always been befuddled about how Brasi by nature, always attracts trouble to himself even when he had no idea or resources to resolve or get out of it.
To paraphrase, the Don, recalling his perception about Brasi, told his son that there are men in this world who always attract trouble to themselves no matter where they go or what they do and that Luca (Brasi)was such a man.
Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) could also be described as such.
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Whenever you think he has survived an episode of controversy, the man would bounce back, sticking his neck out to announce his presence and readiness to start another round.
He first came to public glare when
based on allegations of corruption, he was invited by a Senate Joint Committee to defend himself. At conclusion, a Warrant of arrest issued against him.
Like Brasi, Maina, instead of calming down the matter, took a step that escalated the matter. He sued the Senate and the then IGP.
He was subsequently declared wanted by the police and subsequently dismissed by the Head of Service for allegedly absconding from duty.
At that stage, others would have quietly gone underground to allow the matter fizzle out but not Maina. Like Luca Brasi, he was not done with controversy.
After the Jonathan administration, he was quietly absorbed back into the service but instead of being content with that he would eye a higher position.
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Following the retirement of the director heading the human resources department in the interior ministry Maina, who was not even known to have returned was promoted to replace him.
It was at that point that someone raised an alarm and the whole matter blew open while seriously embarrassing the government. This led to the entire matter being revisited till he went at large again and was arrested in Niamey, Niger Republic after jumping bail and flown back to Nigeria.
On November 8, 2021, the Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment for money laundering offences involving N2 billion in pension funds.
In a viral video currently trending, Maina has resurfaced when everyone had forgotten about his matter saying Nigeria owes him a favour for helping the country recover the sum of N1.3 trillion.
He said while he is entitled to 5 percent of the amount under the whistleblower policy nothing has been given to him.
Then the big one. Waving an anti corruption flag, he announced to the world how corrupt the former minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami is.
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He said what the latter is alleged to have stolen is only a tiny percentage of what the man actually embezzled.
For man whose previous public outing is nothing to be proud of, many are shocked by the audacity of his claims.
Whether anyone like it or not, he has registered his presence in a controversial way.
As expected, his trial in the court of public opinion has started all over again.
Others can worry all they can but like Brasi, you can be sure that Maina would be the least bothered.
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