How ex-pension reform chief Maina was arrested
NEWS DIGEST – After a four-year manhunt, a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, AbdulRasheed Maina, has been arrested.
Mr Maina was arrested by operatives of the State Security Services, SSS, at a hotel in Abuja after he sneaked into the country from his Dubai base, it was learnt on Monday night.
SaharaReporters reported that before Mr Maina was eventually arrested, he attempted to fire a shot at the operatives in a bid to escape, but was overpowered.
According to sources, SSS might hand him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for trial over a questionable N2billion biometrics contract as soon as possible.
Explaining how he was arrested, they said the SSS acted on intelligence alert which led to his arrest.
The source said: “Following inter-agency collaboration, intelligence report indicated that Maina had sneaked into the country from Dubai.
“He was trailed to an Abuja hotel where he was arrested after operatives outwitted those who tried to ferry him away in a bullet-proof vehicle.
“He is currently being quizzed. He is likely to be handed over to the EFCC for trial. He has a pending case since 2015.”
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Mr Maina was on July 21, 2015 charged alongside Oronsaye, Osarenkhoe Afe and Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited before a Federal High Court on a 24-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and obtaining by false pretense.
Although some godfathers tried to smuggle him into the country and attempted to reinstate him to office, the process backfired.
The EFCC in 2017, declared Mr Maina wanted, following his refusal to honour the commission’s invitations.
But in his bid to evade the long arm of the law, Mr Maina, on September 5, 2018, in a suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/957/2918, asked the court to decide whether the Commission can lawfully exercise powers of declaring him wanted, either on its official website or any other media platform, or “harass him.”
Justice Folasade Giwa Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court restrained the anti- graft commission from declaring Mr Maina wanted.
She also gave an order of perpetual injunction, restraining the EFCC and its affiliates or related bodies from further declaring Mr Maina wanted in relation to the issue of the pension scam.
The EFCC said the judgment must not be allowed to stand and filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal.
SSS has not made any comment about the development at the time of filing this report. The Spokesman, Peter Afunaya, did not respond to a message sent to him to confirm the development.
