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EFCC Narrates How Maina Stole N14bn from Pension Accounts
A prosecution witness has narrated how a former chairman, Pension Reform Task Force Team, (PRTFT), Abdulrasheed Maina, who is standing trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja, stole about N14 billion from pension accounts through several illegal payments to fake pensioners, non-existing contracts, and other pension reform unions.
The witness, Rouqayyah Ibrahim, an investigator with the EFCC, on Wednesday also told Justice Okon Abang, how a former Head of Service, Stephen Oronsaye, allegedly aided Mr Maina to divert some of the stolen funds through 66 bank accounts.
This development was revealed via a statement released by the EFCC.
The EFCC is prosecuting Mr Maina, who is on the run, alongside his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd, on a 12-count charge of operating fictitious bank accounts, corruption, and money laundering to the tune of N2 billion.
Justice Abang had ordered the continuation of the trial in absentia of Mr Maina, after he failed to attend court proceedings since September 29 this year, with his counsel, Francis Oronsaye, claiming his client was ill.
A Nigerian senator, Ali Ndume, who stood surety for Mr Maina, was recently remanded in jail for failing to provide the suspect.
At the court hearing, the investigator, who is the ninth prosecution witness, told the court that part of the alleged fraud was discovered in 2010, after the EFCC was invited to join the pension verification exercise.
He said the commission discovered “a payment mandate, bearing the names of several individuals, totalling N94 million of which some of the pensioners’ names on the list were fake”.
The witness said an investigation by the commission, through its Pension Fraud Team found that “Abdulrasheed Maina was deeply involved in stealing those pension funds”.
The witness said, “in the five modus operandi was payment to fake pensioners, non-existing contracts, illegal payment to National Union of Pension (NUP) and illegal payment to another association called Association of Retired Federal Civil Servants.”
The witness also said Mr Maina paid pension funds into the private accounts owned by Mr Oronsaye, who headed the HoS Commission between 2009 and 2010.
The witness said this was discovered ”after the EFCC approached about 30 banks for account details linking the ex-head of HoS, in which it was discovered he operated 66 illegal bank accounts, that the Accountant General was unaware of”.
In 2014, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported how the auditor-general indicted Mr Oronsaye for N123 billion allegedly diverted between 2009 and 2010 under his watch.
Mr Oronsaye is also standing criminal trial with Osa Afe and three other companies for alleged fraud in awarding purported contracts for non-existing biometric data capturing to the tune of N292 million.
Meanwhile, the EFCC investigator said: “part of what our investigation revealed was that the head of service, Mr Stephen Oronsaye, at that time was operating 66 illegal accounts”.
He told the court how Mr Maina opened various accounts with Fidelity Bank ”in the name of his son, sisters and sister-in-law and other members of his family.”
The witness said the findings were also confirmed by a second prosecution witness, Toyin Meseke, who is a Fidelity Bank staffer.
He said Mr Maina ”had complete control over the several accounts, though his name, signature and photograph did not appear anywhere in the account opening packages.”
The witness said findings revealed that an account with Fidelity Bank ”in the name of Nafisatu Aliyu Yeldu’s bears the name of Mr Maina’s sister with her passport, photograph on the face of it”.
“She informed us (EFCC) that she remembers at one point that Toyin Meseke (PW2), who is a Fidelity Bank staff requested for her PHCN (power utility) bill but she wasn’t sure what he wanted it for and that was one of the documents that were used in opening the account. She also informed us that when she started receiving alerts, she contacted Toyin Meseke and he promised to deal with the issue.”
According to the witness, “the turnover in Yeldu’s account was over N300 million”.
The witness said there was another case involving Drew Construction, which had the name of his (Maina’s) other sister, Fatima Abdullahi Aliyu, with a turnover of about N55 million all from cash deposits within a few months.”
“When she was confronted, it showed that she did not know the account, even though it bore her name and other similar information that belonged to her. The witness said.
“We called for the statement of Drew Construction and of his Fidelity Bank, and discovered the same modus by Maina, concealing and stealing the identity of his family members, registering companies in their names, opening a corporate bank account without their knowledge.”
“We also discovered from Common Input, a company registered by Maina and his wife, using the details of his sister (PW2), taking advantage of his sister-in-law, Mairo Bashir (PW1), who deliberately allowed Maina to conceal his identity without doing the ‘Know Your Customer’ and allowing him to operate the accounts as Fatima Abdullahi. When Fatima was invited, we confronted her that her BVN was linked to Common Input and Kongolo Dynamic Cleaning Services Ltd and she confirmed that she did not know about the existence of the company and that Maina requested her to give her BVN so that she will be removed as a signatory from the company and she wasn’t aware of being a signatory of any company but innocently gave them the BVN, believing that will make her stop being a signatory of the said company.”
Mr Abang, subsequently, adjourned the matter till December 3.
Premium Times
The Senate has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to raise N1.15 trillion from the domestic debt market to cover the unfunded portion of the 2025 budget deficit.
The approval followed the adoption of a report by the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt during plenary on Wednesday.
The committee noted that the 2025 Appropriation Act provides for a total expenditure of N59.99 trillion, representing an increase of N5.25 trillion over the N54.74 trillion initially proposed by the Executive.
This expansion created a total budget deficit of N14.10 trillion. Of this, N12.95 trillion had already been approved for borrowing, leaving an unfunded deficit of approximately N1.15 trillion (N1,147,462,863,321).
In a related development, a motion by Senator Abdul Ningi was adopted, directing the Senate Committee on Appropriations to intensify its oversight to ensure that the borrowed funds are properly implemented in the 2025 fiscal year and used strictly for their intended purposes.
President Tinubu had on November 4th requested the approval of the National Assembly for a fresh ₦1.15 trillion borrowing from the domestic debt market to help finance the deficit in the 2025 budget.
The President’s request was conveyed in a letter. According to the letter, the proposed borrowing is intended to bridge the funding gap and ensure full implementation of government programs and projects under the 2025 fiscal plan.
The Senate has rejected the explanations provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) regarding the ₦210 trillion outstanding against the oil firm.
It came to the conclusion on Wednesday that the money, which had not been accounted for, must be refunded to the Federation Account by the company.
The Senate Committee on Public Accounts chaired by Aliyu Wadada, which has been on the probe for months, took the decision on Tuesday after the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, failed to turn up at its resumed sitting at the National Assembly.
The session was called to give the NNPCL the opportunity to make clarifications on the answers the company provided to the 19 questions the panel asked the firm about the ₦210 trillion.
Following a review of the operations of the NNPCL from 2017-2023, the committee sighted the unexplained transaction, totaling ₦103 trillion (accrued expenses) and ₦107 trillion (receivables) in the audited financial statements of the firm, prompting it to raise the queries.
After weeks of back-and-forth between the committee and the NNPCL, the NNPCL eventually responded to the 19 questions.
However, at a resumed session, Senator Wadada frowned at the absence of Ojulari, whom the committee said gave no reasons for staying away, consequently rejected the explanations.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Aliyu Wadada, while speaking on the panel’s findings, said the responses were not only unsatisfactory, but were also contradictory.
“NNPC claimed ₦103 trillion as accrued expenses and ₦107 trillion as receivables -amounting to ₦210 trillion. On question eight, NNPC’s explanation on the ₦107 trillion receivables -equivalent to about $117 billion -contradicts available facts and evidence provided by NNPC itself. The committee is duty-bound to reject this,” he stated.
Wadada further questioned how the firm could pay ₦103 trillion in Cash Calls to Joint Venture (JV) partners in 2023 alone, despite generating only ₦24 trillion in crude revenue between 2017 and 2022.
“Cash Call arrangements were abolished in 2016 under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. How can NNPC claim to have paid ₦103trn in one year, when it only generated ₦24trn in revenue over five years? Where did NNPC get that money?
“As far as this committee is concerned, that figure is unjustifiable and unacceptable. The ₦103 trillion must be returned to the Treasury. This will be concluded when the NNPCL appears before us,” he stated.
The committee said it would have been better for the current management of the NNPCL to admit that it encountered challenges in explaining what happened to the funds than giving contradictory answers to the questions.
“If the present management of NNPCL is finding it difficult to provide acceptable answers, it is better they say so. The committee will not hesitate to subpoena former officials of NNPCL and NAPIMS,” Wadada added.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has again stopped the Peoples Democratic Party from proceeding with its planned national convention scheduled to take place in Ibadan, Oyo State, between November 15 and 16.
The court also barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from supervising, monitoring, or recognising any outcome from the planned convention where national officers were expected to be elected, Channels reports.
Justice Peter Lifu issued the restraining order on Tuesday while ruling on an application filed by former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.
Lamido had sued the party, alleging that he was unjustly denied the opportunity to purchase the nomination form for the national chairmanship position, thereby excluding him from the exercise.
Justice Lifu said the order became necessary because the PDP failed to comply with the relevant legal requirements guiding the conduct of such conventions.
He noted that evidence before the court showed the party did not publish the timetable for the exercise as required by law, and therefore acted in breach of due process.
The judge further held that the balance of convenience favoured Lamido, as he would suffer greater harm if unlawfully excluded from the process.
“In a constitutional democracy, due process of law must be strictly observed by those in authority. To act otherwise is to endanger the very foundation of democracy itself,” he said.
He added that, under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution, courts must not abdicate their responsibility of delivering justice without fear or favour.
Justice Lifu warned that anarchy could result anywhere the judiciary fails to perform its constitutional duties.
In his final ruling, the court restrained the PDP from holding the convention on November 15 and 16, or on any other date, in Ibadan or elsewhere.
It also ordered INEC not to monitor or recognise the outcome of any such gathering organised by the party.
In October 2025, the Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the PDP from proceeding with its planned national convention.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025, Justice James Omotosho ordered that the convention be halted until the party complies with the statutory requirements of its constitution, the Nigerian Constitution, and the Electoral Act.
The suit was instituted by three aggrieved members of the party, Austin Nwachukwu (Imo PDP Chairman), Amah Abraham Nnanna (Abia PDP Chairman), and Turnah Alabh George (PDP Secretary, South-South).
They asked the court to stop the PDP’s scheduled national convention in Ibadan, where new national officers were expected to be elected, arguing that the planned convention violated the Electoral Act and the PDP’s internal rules.
However, on November 4, the Oyo State High Court granted the PDP approval to proceed with its convention.
Justice Akintola issued an interim order permitting the party to continue its convention plans without obstruction, following an ex-parte motion filed by Folahan Adelabi against the PDP, its Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri (Chairman of the National Convention Organising Committee) and INEC.
Justice Akintola, however, on Monday, adjourned the hearing of a Motion on Notice in a separate suit filed by Folahan Malomo Adelabi against the PDP, its acting National Chairman, and other respondents.
The judge explained that the adjournment was to allow both parties to file and exchange all necessary processes before the substantive hearing could begin.
