BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
A former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Taskforce Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, on Thursday, collapsed during a hearing on his N2bn money laundering trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The resumed hearing was to consider Maina’s “no-case submission”, after the prosecution closed its case with nine witnesses on Wednesday.
Justice Okon Abang, as a result of the development, said the court would rise for five minutes.
Defence lawyer, Anayo Adibe, was briefing the judge when the loud noise of Maina’s fall disrupted the proceedings.
Officials of the Correctional Service quickly rushed to attend to him, amid the commotion that the fall caused.
The Court had, on Tuesday, rejected a request by Maina, seeking an adjournment to enable him to prepare for his defence, saying it was a ploy to waste judicial time.
Justice Abang, in his ruling, explained that the Court had not breached Maina’s right to a fair hearing, saying the trial had continued in his absence when he jumped bail.
The Judge stressed that the former pension boss had not appeared in court since September 29, when hearing on the case resumed, arguing that his former lawyer should have handed over the brief properly to the new Counsel.
