EFCC Declares Ex-Pension Boss Maina Wanted Again Over Stolen Properties

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday declared former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, wanted in connection with an alleged case of receiving stolen properties.

In a public notice signed by Dele Oyewale, Head of Media and Publicity, the anti-graft agency notified the public that Maina, whose photograph was published alongside the alert, is being sought over the offence. The 61-year-old indigene of Biu in Borno State is described as wanted, with the Commission urging anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact its offices in Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt or Abuja, or call 08093322644, email info@efcc.gov.ng, or report to the nearest police station or other security agencies.

This latest declaration comes years after Maina’s high-profile conviction and subsequent release from prison. In November 2021, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja found him guilty on multiple counts of money laundering and related offences involving approximately ₦2 billion in pension funds. He was sentenced to concurrent terms, the longest being eight years, with an order to refund ₦314 million to the Federal Government. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction in 2023. Maina had been arrested in October 2019, jumped bail at one point, was later rearrested in Niger Republic and extradited, and began serving his sentence from the date of his initial arraignment.

He was released early in February 2025 from Kuje Correctional Centre after serving roughly four years. The Nigerian Correctional Service later explained that the early release followed statutory remission rules for good conduct and industry under its Standing Orders, calculating his earliest release date as 25 February 2025 from the start of his sentence in October 2019.

ADVERTISEMENT

Maina has long been at the centre of one of Nigeria’s most notorious pension-related scandals. Appointed to reform the country’s troubled pension system, he was accused of diverting funds through fictitious biometric enrolment contracts, allowances and shell companies. Investigations linked him to numerous properties in Abuja, Kaduna and elsewhere in Nigeria—many paid for in large cash sums, including a mansion in Jabi bought for $2 million and another for $1.4 million—as well as assets in the United States (Kentucky) and Dubai. At least 20 Nigerian properties were eventually forfeited to the government. Separate probes and reporting also highlighted foreign real estate acquisitions timed closely with the alleged diversion of public funds.

A parallel case against Maina and a co-defendant, Ann Igwe Olachi, for allegedly receiving stolen funds totalling about ₦738.6 million (linked to biometric contracts and other payments from pension-related sources) has continued in the Federal Capital Territory High Court. Proceedings have faced repeated delays, with the judge at one point threatening to revoke bail over what were described as stalling tactics.

The EFCC’s fresh wanted notice revives public attention on the long-running saga surrounding the former pension official, who has maintained his innocence and previously challenged declarations against him in court. The Commission has not provided further details on the specific circumstances leading to the current alert beyond the allegation of receiving stolen properties.

Members of the public with useful information are encouraged to come forward through the channels listed by the EFCC.