Why we released pension thief Maina early from prison

The Nigerian Correctional Service has explained why Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, convicted of money laundering, was released from prison in February 2025, about four years after he was sentenced to eight years in prison.

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Mr Maina was released on 25 February 2025 due to good conduct in prison, the correctional service said in a response to a Freedom of Information request by PREMIUM TIMES and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

“In accordance with established legal principles, his sentence commenced from the date of arrest, 25 October 2019. Furthermore, pursuant to Order 138 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Standing Orders (Custodial), Revised Edition 2020, inmates who demonstrate good conduct and industry are eligible for statutory remission.

Mr Maina qualified for such remission under the extant rules, resulting in an Earliest Date of Release of 25 February 2025, which was duly effected,” the service said in its response, signed JN Osuji, the correctional service public relations officer.

Mr Maina was convicted in November 2021 and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for money laundering offences involving N2 billion in pension funds.

The correctional service emphasised that Mr Maina’s release followed due process.

“Following his conviction by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/258/2019, he was sentenced to multiple terms of imprisonment, with the maximum term being eight years, ordered by the court to run concurrently,” the service said.

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“The Nigerian Correctional Service wishes to emphasise that all actions taken in this matter were strictly within the confines of the law and relevant subsidiary legislation. No discretionary, preferential, or extraneous considerations were applied.”

A cross-border investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, the OCCRP, and the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) uncovered how Mr Maina amassed properties worth over $1.3 million in the United States and Dubai between 2010 and 2013.

The Nigerian government accused him of siphoning millions of dollars from the pension fund he was meant to safeguard during the same period.

The former pension boss fled Nigeria for Dubai in March 2013.

When he returned to Nigeria in 2017, a PREMIUM TIMES investigation sparked public outrage by uncovering his secret reinstatement and promotion while he was a fugitive.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) subsequently declared him wanted. He was eventually arrested and indicted for money laundering in 2019.

During the 2019 raid to arrest Mr Maina and his son, Faisal drew a pistol and rammed a bulletproof Range Rover through a hotel gate in an unsuccessful escape attempt.

After fleeing trial a second time, Mr Maina was rearrested in the Republic of Niger following an Interpol red notice and extradited to Nigeria.

Conviction

In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/256/2019, the EFCC alleged that Mr Maina used fictitious names to open and operate various bank accounts. He also recruited his relatives, who were bank officials, to operate fake bank accounts through which illicit funds were channelled.

Three of his biological siblings—two sisters and one brother—appeared in court as prosecution witnesses to testify against him. His two sisters told the court how Mr Maina fraudulently obtained their details and utility bills to open accounts for his Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, with which he perpetrated the fraud for which he was convicted. The company was also convicted and ordered to be wound up by the court.

“The convict’s salary as a civil servant was a little above N300,000, and could not have amounted to N2 billion even if he was saving all his salaries for 35 years,” Federal High Court judge Okon Abang observed in his sentencing of Mr Maina for money laundering.

Mr Maina continues to face embezzlement charges in a separate trial.

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Since his release, Mr Maina maintained a low profile until last week, when a branch of the Nigerian Bar Association appointed him as its patron and presented him with the “Rule of Law and Courage Award” at a ceremony.

At the event, Mr Maina maintained his innocence, claiming that top officials in the Buhari administration were persecuting him.

The day after the ceremony, the national leadership of the NBA condemned his appointment and announced disciplinary proceedings against Anthony Ojo, the NBA Garki Branch president, who presented the award.