The Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, was repatriated to Nigeria Thursday to answer charges leveled against him bordering on money laundering and financial impropriety.
Maina was arrested in Niamey, Niger Republic having been declared wanted by a court over impending criminal trial.
Maina is facing investigation for alleged mismanagement of over N24billion pension funds while in office. 29 assets worth N1billion also suspected to be owned by him have already been seized. Maina was “escorted” to Nigeria by the Nigerian Police.
He was received on arrival by men of the Nigeria Police Force at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.
The aircraft carrying the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team landed at the airport at 2.15 pm.
Speaking with journalists at the airport, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Interpol said Maina was brought back to Nigeria on the directive of the IGP, Mohammed Adamu.
A statement by the Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, reads,
“The Nigeria Police Force has extradited Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), today, 3rd December 2020, to Nigeria from Niamey, Niger Republic, where he was arrested having been declared wanted by a court of competent jurisdiction over a pending criminal trial against him.
“Recall that Abdulrashid Maina was arrested on 30th November 2020 through the collaborative efforts of the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, INTERPOL NCB, Abuja and their Nigerien counterpart. The team from INTERPOL Nigeria, led by the Commissioner of Police INTERPOL, CP Garba Umar, having completed the necessary documentation requirements and other extradition processes, flew the wanted former Pension Boss, Maina into Nigeria aboard an NPF Jet 5N-HAR and landed at exactly 1417Hrs (Nigerian Time).
“Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni while applauding the trans-national/inter-agency collaborations that led to the successful arrest and extradition of the wanted fugitive, assures that necessary legal actions will follow immediately.”
