‘I’ve lost count of your lawyers’ — judge tackles Maina over delay tactics in ‘N738m fraud’ case

Abubakar Kutigi, judge of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) high court in Asokoro, on Friday, expressed frustration over repeateddelays in the trial of Abdulrasheed Maina, insisting that the defendant mustappear and defend himself against the charges. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) isprosecuting Maina, former chairman of the defunct pension reform task team(PRTT), alongside Ann Igwe Olachi, on a nine-count charge bordering on thealleged receipt of stolen funds amounting to N738,612,019.99. The defendantswere arraigned in 2019. The proceeding on Friday, which was scheduled for atrial-within-trial, was stalled following an application for adjournment byMaina’s new counsel, Emmanuel Wuyi, who said he had just been briefed on thematter. “My lord, the first defendant has been ill, and I understandthat this case has a history of adjournments. This is my first time appearingbefore your lordship, being that I have just been briefed about this case,” thelawyer said. “I am asking your lordship for two weeks to enable me tostudy the facts of the case, and I am even looking at resolving this matterwith the prosecution.” Responding, the judge questioned the basis for the requestand pointed to what he described as a pattern of delay tactics. “Two weeks for what? Everybody is ready; everybody istired,” the judge said. “We want every party to have a fair hearing and do theircases, but when there is an adjournment, he will go and hire a new lawyer, andwhen we insist we will go on, you will now say you were denied a fair hearing. “He has changed to another lawyer now, and I have lost countof the number of lawyers who have appeared in this case. “We know the substance, and the end will determine it. Theintegrity of what we do here is critical and important.” Francis Usani, the EFCC counsel, also opposed theapplication, noting that the prosecution’s witnesses for the trial-within-trialwere present in court. “My lord, only yesterday we were served with an applicationfor a stay of proceedings, an application on the jurisdiction of this court, atravel application and an application for appeal,” Usani said. “If he (defence counsel) has been able to file suchvoluminous and bulky applications, it is assumed that the counsel knows thecase so that we can start, except he is going to withdraw these applicationsand take a decision if he wants to continue with the trial-within-trial. “I can give him the opportunity to watch the video(statement recording video of the defendant), invite him to my office and lethim watch the video. If he sees anything, then he let us know so that we cansave the court’s time.” Addressing the defence again, Kutigi pressed for clarity onthe strategy being pursued. “How can you say you want to do this case, and at the sametime you filed applications of jurisdiction, stay of proceedings and so on?”the judge asked. “What do you really want? You have to decide on what we arecoming here to do on the next adjourned date.” The defence counsel subsequently made an oral application towithdraw the motion for stay of proceedings dated February 10, 2026, andindicated readiness to proceed with the trial-within-trial on the nextadjourned date. The court granted the application to withdraw the stay andadjourned the matter to February 26 for continuation of the trial-within-trial. Maina was recently released from the Kuje prison, where heserved jail time following conviction for pension fraud. Earlier in February, Emmanuel Ekwe, media assistant toMaina, claimed that the former pension task force chairman had slumped on thestaircase of his office and was hospitalised.This excuse has been cited inprevious proceedings as part of explanations for his absence in court.

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