Drama At Court Premises As EFCC Tries To Re-Arrest Maina After His Conviction [Video]

There was a mild drama at the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) tried to re-arrest the former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, who was convicted and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.

KanyiDaily had reported that the court sentenced Abdulrasheed Maina to eight years imprisonment after he was found guilty of a 12-count money laundering charge filed against him by the EFCC.

The trial judge, Okon Abang, ordered that the terms of imprisonment for all the 12 counts shall run concurrently from October 25, 2019, the date the convict was arraigned.

The judge, who ruled that Mr Maina must refund money running over a billion naira to the federal government coffers, among others, also ordered that the company used for the unlawful act be wound up.

However, as the officers of the Correctional Centre, Kuje, were taking Mr Maina out of the court premises amid tight security, EFCC operatives drove two vehicles into the premises, blocking the correctional centre’s Hilux van.

The development led to hot arguments between the two opposing personnel as they corked their rifles in defence.

However, the prison officers stood their ground, refusing to allow the EFCC operatives, some of whom came in police uniform, to whisk Mr Maina away.

A prison officer, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) anonymously shortly after the pandemonium, said the EFCC operatives had come in the name of rearresting Mr Maina for another charge.

He said, “They said they have a warrant to rearrest him after he was just convicted.

“Our own stand is that the court just convicted him and if they need to rearrest him, they should come through the court. The court will give the directive for us to obey.” (NAN)

Watch the video below:

This comes barely one month after Maina’s son, Faisal was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment after he was found guilty on all three counts of money laundering involving N58.1million in public funds.