EFCC confirms custody of Maina’s son, speaks on next steps

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has confirmed that it has taken custody of Faisal Maina, son of former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, following his arrest after six years on the run.

The commission’s spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, confirmed this to PREMIUM TIMES Saturday morning, saying a necessary court order would be needed to transfer him to a correctional centre to serve his prison sentence.

“Confirmed. The necessary court order will be obtained to take him to the Correctional Centre for him to serve his sentence,” Mr Oyewale wrote in response to a PREMIUM TIMES enquiry.

TheCable first reported that Faisal was arrested by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) in the Karsana area of Abuja after intelligence indicated that he had secretly returned to Nigeria.

Full details about Faisal’s arrest remain sketchy. An SSS spokesperson in a terse message told our reporter that he was arrested on Thursday and subsequently handed over to the EFCC, which successfully prosecuted him, in absentia, in a money laundering case.

Faisal had been on the run since 2020 after he allegedly breached his bail conditions and fled the country while facing a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.

His trial continued in his absence, culminating in his conviction by the Federal High Court in Abuja in October 2021. The trial judge, Okon Abang, sentenced him to 14 years’ imprisonment.

The court found that Faisal operated a fictitious account with United Bank for Africa (UBA), through which his father allegedly laundered N58.1 million.

The funds were deposited into an account operated in the name of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” and subsequently withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.

READ ALSO: Maina’s son, Faisal, arrested after six years on the run Report

In November 2022, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction but reduced his sentence from 14 years to seven years, ruling that the trial court should not have imposed the maximum sentence on a first-time offender.

Faisal’s father, Mr Maina, served an eight-year prison sentence at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja after his conviction for laundering N2 billion in pension funds. He was released earlier in 2026 but has since been declared wanted over an alleged case of receiving stolen property.