RismadarVoice Reporters, February 20, 2026
Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Asokoro, Abuja, on Friday, February 20, 2026, reprimanded former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, and his defence team over what he described as persistent attempts to stall his trial.
Maina and Ann Igwe Olachi are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a nine-count charge bordering on the alleged receipt of stolen funds amounting to N738,612,019.99. The duo was arraigned in 2019.
Proceedings scheduled for a trial-within-trial were stalled following a request by Maina’s new counsel, Emmanuel Wuyi, for a two-week adjournment to enable him study the case, citing his recent engagement and the defendant’s ill health.
Justice Kutigi, however, expressed frustration over repeated adjournments and frequent changes of counsel by the first defendant.
“Two weeks for what? Everybody is ready, everybody is tired,” the judge said, noting that he had lost count of the number of lawyers who had appeared for Maina. He stressed the importance of maintaining the integrity of the judicial process.
Prosecution counsel, Francis Usani, also decried the delays, informing the court that prosecution witnesses were present. He disclosed that the defence had filed several applications, including for stay of proceedings, jurisdictional challenge, travel request and appeal, arguing that such filings indicated readiness to proceed.
In response, Justice Kutigi questioned the defence’s intentions, asking how they could seek to proceed with trial while simultaneously filing applications challenging the court’s jurisdiction.
Maina’s counsel subsequently made an oral application to withdraw the motion for stay of proceedings and assured the court of readiness to proceed with the trial-within-trial on the next date.
The court granted the withdrawal application and adjourned the matter to February 26, 2026, for continuation of trial-within-trial.
