A thief is a thief, whether he steals a golden crown or a cocoyam. The way we are now glamourising stealing and making celebrities of common felons, indicates that we are too far gone in our descent into amoralism.
He has thrown in every trick in infamy to escape justice. He first fled to Europe and then showed up in UAE before negotiating a secret return through some highly placed contacts who kept him one step ahead of the law. The impression many people had was that the man was simply not arrestable. When you have tons of unearned billions and you are willing to share a fraction of the loot with accomplices, you cannot lack takers in today’s Nigeria.
Maina reminds one of Fela Anikulapo’s evergreen number, “Authority Stealing”. When a person with a wonky mind suddenly finds himself in a position of authority, the thief in him is not cured by his ascendancy to that exalted position. If he had been a man of lower status, he would steal a mango. In an exalted position, he would readily steal his people’s Tomorrow. There is no greater thief than he who steals hope by robbing retirees of their pension.
The court also ordered Maina and his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, to restitute about N2.1billion to the Federal Government, after which it ordered that the company should be wound up.