The crisis of confidence rocking the leadership of the National Pensions Commission, PenCom, may have reached its apogee with petitions flooding the Presidency and office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice over alleged high-handedness of a top official of the commission. The official has been accused of disregarding court judgments thereby undermining the integrity of the judiciary.

Some of the petitioners also accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, of undermining the office of the Attorney General by disregarding directives emanating from the office.

These petitions are a fall-out of the forceful take-over of the First Guarantee Pension Limited, FGPL, since 2011, a pension fund administrator, PFA, founded by Nze Chidi Duru, in spite of court rulings that PenCom should give back the company to its shareholding.

The latest petition, which is causing ripples at the PenCom and the EFCC, was written to President Muhammadu Buhari by Duru, founder and promoter of FGPL on April 22, 2016.

Entitled, “Malicious persecution of our client, Nze Chidi Duru,” Madyan Legal Consult, lawyers to the petitioner, narrated the genesis of the crisis and implored the President to ensure that justice prevailed in the matter.

“We write to bring to your kind attention the continued and unjustified persecution of our client, Nze Chidi Duru, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, at the instance of a minority shareholder in First Guarantee Pensions Limited and who, in clear disregard of extant court orders/judgments and in his schemes to lay unlawful claim to the assets and management of the company, resorted to using the EFCC to persecute, distract and embarrass our client.”

After narrating the history of the crisis rocking the company and the role played by PenCom and the EFCC, Duru asked the President to intervene in ensuring that justice was done.

“We, therefore, seek your kind intervention that would result in the EFCC complying with earlier written directives of the Attorney General of the Federation, specifically directing it to bring the case file for review and further directives.

‘’The EFCC, acting within the law and, in particular, specifically withdrawing the 2015 charge it instituted in the Lagos High Court.

‘’A forensic audit of FGPL, which currently manages over N113 billion worth of assets of contributors, be conducted, as the company has not held any Annual General Meeting in the past six years and no account has been rendered to the shareholders.”

“This is a government that came to power on the crest of rule of law. The President is a man of integrity acknowledged all over the world and he has pledged publicly as recently as last week that even in the war against corruption, his government will not do anything to undermine the other arms of government,” said a Presidency source.