BY LINUS CHIBUIKE
FORMER Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, has been rearrested in Niamey, Niger Republic, the Nigerian Police confirmed on Tuesday.
Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, disclosed that the Nigerian Police was perfecting extradition processes to enable him face trial in the ongoing proceedings.
Maina was reportedly arrested on Monday night, through the collaborative efforts of operatives of the Nigerian Police Force and the Niger Republic Intelligence Service.
According to Mba, Maina is currently in a detention facility in Niger Republic, pending completion of the extradition procedure.
“The Force assures the citizens that there shall be no hiding place for any suspect, no matter how highly placed,” he said.
The Point had reported that a Federal High Court in Abuja had commenced Maina’s trial, in absentia.
Justice Okon Abang had also, on Monday, ordered that the lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Ali Ndume, be remanded in Kuje Correctional Center.
He gave the order, following Ndume’s inability to produce Maina, who is standing trial for alleged money laundering to the tune of N2bn, The Point had reported.
Maina last appeared in court on July 2, 2020, during his legal team’s cross-examination of the sixth prosecution witness.
Having failed to attend subsequent proceedings on the matter since September 20, 2020, the Judge revoked the bail earlier granted Maina in a November 18, 2020 ruling, ordered his arrest and ruled that the trial would be done in absentia.
