Alleged N2b fraud: Senator in trouble as Maina cuts off contact with associates, surety


 Security agencies have been unable to locate a former chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, standing trial on 12 counts of N2bn fraud and money laundering.

Maina, who has reportedly gone underground, was also said to have cut off contact with all his associates and friends, one of his acquaintances has said.

It would be recalled that Maina had missed over 10 scheduled court proceedings since September and had also been incommunicado to his surety, Senator Ali Ndume, the lawmaker representing Borno South.

The inability to reach Maina, it was learnt, had put Ndume in a panic and confusion following fears that the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, might order his detention over the failure of the defendant to show up in court.

The judge had during the last court session on October 18 handed down a 21-day ultimatum to the lawmaker to produce Maina.

Abang had also threatened that the senator could be detained should he fail to produce the defendant in court on November 18.

A frantic Ndume had solicited the help of the Department of State Services and the police to track down the fugitive, but so far, the security agencies had been unable to locate Maina.

Mr. Maina