The Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Asokoro, Abuja, on Thursday threatened to revoke the bail of a former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, over what the court described as sustained attempts to stall his trial.
Justice Abubakar Kutigi issued the warning during proceedings on February 5, 2026, after the defence presented a hospital referral letter and sought an adjournment, a request the judge rejected.
Justice Kutigi expressed displeasure that the case, which has been before the court for about four years, had failed to make progress due to what he termed “diverse antics” by the defendant. He noted that Maina was last physically present in court about four years ago.
The judge said the situation had “stalled proceedings completely” and disclosed that he was considering revoking Maina’s bail to compel him to take the trial seriously.
While refusing the adjournment request by defence counsel, Mr. Achibong, Justice Kutigi said he had secured the commitment of the defence team to proceed with the trial with or without Maina’s physical presence.
Following the ruling, the prosecution, led by Francis Usani, called its 14th witness, Gogi Mohammed, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Continuing his evidence-in-chief, Mohammed told the court that investigations in Kaduna State revealed that Maina allegedly used officials of the office of the head of the civil service of the federation to siphon public funds through fictitious contracts, allowances and biometric enrolment exercises for pensioners.
He said the investigation led the EFCC to a relative of the defendant, Maimuna Usman, in Kaduna, whom he described as a custodian of Maina’s assets.
“We arrested her and executed a search warrant at her residence in Gwando MSC Quarters, where we discovered title documents, deeds of assignment and certificates of occupancy of over 30 properties, mostly located in Abuja and Kaduna,” the witness said.
According to him, Usman disclosed during interrogation that the documents were handed to her by Maina.
Mohammed further told the court that after interviews with estate agents involved in the transactions, the EFCC applied for the forfeiture of the properties.
He alleged that some of the properties were purchased in cash, including a Jabi property allegedly bought for $2m and another in Life Camp, Abuja, purchased for $1.7m.
He also mentioned a property on Katoru Road, Kaduna, allegedly acquired for N100m in cash.
The witness also testified on transactions involving Hamilton Global Services Limited, linked to a member of the Pension Reform Task Team, Osarenkhoe Afe.
He alleged that a biometric enrolment contract initially valued at N63m was later inflated to N199m, with a total of N224m eventually paid.
Mohammed said investigations showed that N166m from the contract sum was transferred to another account, while further payments were allegedly made directly from the office of the head of the civil service of the federation.
He added that Afe allegedly admitted during interrogation that the contract was inflated at Maina’s instance and claimed that about N250m from the proceeds was given to the former task team chairman in tranches.
The witness identified extra-judicial statements allegedly made by the first and second defendants, but the defence objected to their admissibility, claiming they were obtained under duress.
Justice Kutigi subsequently adjourned the case to February 20 and 26, 2026, for trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the statements.
Maina was arraigned alongside Ann Igwe Olachi in 2019 on a nine-count charge bordering on the alleged receipt of stolen funds totalling N738.6m. Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and are standing trial.
