Former President Olusegun Obasanjo criticised the secret reinstatement of fugitive former civil servant, Abdulrasheed Maina, into the civil service and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to punish the officials involved.

He said Mr. Maina’s secret reinstatement was not consistent with President Muhammadu Buhari’s avowed war on corruption.

Thisday reports that the former president spoke at the 2017 Foundation Day Public Lecture titled: “Corruption and the Challenges of the African Child” on Saturday in Ibadan.

He also warned Mr. Buhari that there must not be any “sacred cows” in the fight against corruption.

“Corruption must be punished, and must be seen to be punished.

“Any accomplice in corruption and cover-up and any failure to punish must also earn punishment.

“We cannot afford to have sacred cows in the fight against corruption. The Maina saga should never have been allowed to occur. It is not in tandem with the fight against corruption,” Mr. Obasanjo said.

Also reacting, the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS asked the federal government to ‘swiftly with unrestrained alacrity’ suspend all heads of commission and ministries complicit in the secret reinstatement.

The union warned that it will go on nationwide protest if its demands are not met within seven days.

“The Head of the Service of the Federation as well as the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission deserves nothing but immediate suspension from office and probe for allowing themselves to be caught in this cobweb of professional misconduct,” Chinedu Obasi, the president of the union said In a statement on Sunday.

The Nigerian senate last week asked Mr. Buhari to bring those behind the reinstatement to book without further delay.