Alleged pension thief, Abdulrasheed Maina released from prison

…Maina regains freedom after meeting varied bail in which Senator Ali Ndume stands as a surety

The former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) Abdulrasheed Maina, has been released from the Kuje Correctional Centre having been detained for nine months.

He was prosecuted before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on October 25, 2019, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his son, Faisal, and the company, Common Inputs Property and Investment Ltd.

He had been detained since then despite the court granting him bail.

His lawyer, Ahmed Raji, established the release of the ex-PRTT chairman in a telephone interview disclosing that he was eventually released on Monday after the completion of important files needed to secure his release.

Senator Ali Ndume agreed to stand as surety for Maina after Justice Okon Abang had, on January 28, 2020, varied his bail conditions, following his failure to meet the initial bail terms granted him on November 26, 2019, as the court bargain the bail requirements from one billion naira to 500 million naira with a guarantor in the like sum who must be a serving Senator as against to the previous command of producing two serving senators.

Read also: MAGU: Buhari orders suspension of 12 EFCC directors

Further varied bail was granted on June 29, where his counsel had informed the court at the last adjourned date that Senator Ali Ndume has agreed to stand as surety for his client.

Raji also revealed that the requirement for the surety having a certificate of occupancy of landed property in his name in Abuja is yet to be met.

He, therefore, pleaded with the court to receive a “certified irrevocable power of attorney” issued to Senator Ndume in the name of one Lawal Ahmed, the previous owner of the land.

Maina is being charged by the EFCC for N2 billion fraud, which he pleaded not guilty to all the charges.