Former pension boss Maina arrives court on wheelchair

Embattled former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team Abdulrasheed Maina Thursday arrived a Federal High Court in Abuja on a wheelchair.

On October 25, Maina was sued alongside a firm, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, by the EFCC before at the Federal High Court.

He was arraigned on 12 counts bordering on pension fund fraud, money laundering, and operating fictitious bank accounts among other fraudulent activities.

The trial was earlier stalled last week Tuesday due to Maina’s sudden ill-health and confinement to bed rest by a medical expert.

Maina is in court for the hearing of his bail application. He is being prosecuted by the Federal Government.

Maina, who was in hiding for almost two years, was arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) which had hitherto been accused of shielding him from arrest.

Maina’s trial was stalled on Tuesday due to his reported ill health. A prosecutor had questioned the health report brought to the court to announce Maina’s ill health.

Rich Nigerians are always fond of calling in sick during court trials which enables them to stay away from court as long as they want so they could to get medical attention.

Former petroleum minister Diezani Alison-Madueke’s over $20bn fraud case is pending after her lawyer claimed her client is battling cancer in the United Kingdom.

In 2018, former Peoples Democratic Party spokesman Olisa Metuh appeared in court on a hospital stretcher. There are many other cases of such.

While many Nigerians believe these are framed up with the help of medical doctors, Nigeria’s anti-crime office said it will soon start prosecuting medical doctors who issue fake medical reports to those undergoing trial for financial crimes.

The anti-graft said many of these fake medical reports issued by doctors actually frustrate pending cases in court.

“We will extend our investigation to doctors who gives fake medical reports to individuals who are facing different kinds of corruption cases. so we put them on the spot,” EFCC boss Ibrahim Magu said in November.

“Some would win Senate and present serial medical results that they cannot appear in court. Some would be brought to the courtroom on a stretcher,” he added.

”Many of these fake medical reports are actually the reasons why many of our cases in court are overstretched and go on for years endlessly,” Magu explained.