The Federal High Court in Abuja, has issued Senator Ali Ndume 21 days ultimatum to produce the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, who has been absent from over 10 scheduled trial sessions since September 2020.
The presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang, in issuing the ultimatum, threatened that Senator Ndume who is Maina’s bail surety, could be detained should he fail to produce the defendant in court on November 18.
Both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Ndume, separately urged the court to order Maina’s arrest.
But the judge explained that he could not order Maina’s arrest without ordering the detention of his surety.
“I am more inclined to giving the Senator three more weeks to find and produce the defendant in court”.
Although Maina was absent from the Monday’s proceedings, his supporters sustained negative campaign against the judge by pasting posters accusing the judge of bias in the handling of the trial on the walls of neighbouring buildings around the court premises.
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The posters, which have been featuring around the court premises since the last few occasions when the matter was scheduled to come up, asked Justice Abang to withdraw from the case.
Maina, who is being prosecuted by the EFCC on money laundering charges involving N2bn, has been absent from court since September 29, 2020 when his trial was scheduled to resume.
On October 2, 2020, Ndume, who is currently the Senator representing the Borno South Senatorial District where Maina hails from, told Justice Abang that he could no longer find the defendant.
In response, the prosecuting counsel, Farouk Abdullah, told the judge that Maina had jumped bail, saying the commission’s independent investigation showed that the defendant was not on admission at the hospital where he claimed to be receiving treatment.
But Maina, in a video clip circulated on different online platforms, said he had not absconded from his ongoing trial but was suffering from knee injuries.
He said he would not appear in court until he was certified healed by his doctors.
