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Issues arrest warrant for fugitive ex-pension boss
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – For remaining incommunicado and unavailable for prosecution, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has revoked the bail granted to former Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms (PTTPR), Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina.
In addition, the court has also issued a bench warrant for Maina to be arrested anywhere he may be sighted, including the hospital bed.
As head of the PTTPR, Maina was was accused of theft to the tune of N2 billion in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
Justice Okon Abang slammed the revocation order on Wednesday after counsel to Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mohammed Abubakar, had applied for an order to render Maina’s bail nugatory.
Abubakar informed the court that the former pension taskforce chairman had jumped bail to which he was admitted in the sum of N500 million with a surety in the like sum who must be a serving Senator.
The Wednesday’s ruling is against the backdrop of a recent press statement by Maina, purportedly from his sick bed in an undisclosed hospital.
The statement by his media aide Aliyu Musa, claimed that Maina is offering to use his technical expertise to assist the Federal Government to recover about $10 billion in a month.
According to the statement, “the recovered $10 billion could help fix infrastructure deficits, fuel subsidy and ameliorate the Electricity tariff which will ultimately put the looming industrial action by Nigerian workers to a halt.”
Indicating his readiness to commence the funds’ recovery process after fully recuperating from the surgery he just had recently, the statement said; “The former Pension Boss further indicated that he can only make the recovery of the said funds directly to President Buhari fearing a situation where the recovered funds are re-looted as experienced in the recent past.
“Maina has assisted successive administrations, especially that of former President Jonathan where he recovered N1.6 trillion and in President Buhari’s administration, where he recovered N1.3 trillion and several movable and immovable property”, the statement claimed.
