The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has declared the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, wanted over an alleged case of receiving stolen properties.
The EFCC made the declaration in a fresh notice issued on Wednesday, identifying Maina, 61, as an indigene of Biu, Borno State, and publishing his photograph. The commission urged anyone with information capable of assisting in locating him to contact its offices or the nearest police station.
The latest development comes against the backdrop of Maina’s previous conviction for money laundering and a separate criminal trial in which he is accused of receiving N738.6m in allegedly stolen funds.
PLATFORM TIMES gathered that the EFCC’s fresh action marks another chapter in the long-running legal controversies surrounding the former pension reform chief, whose career became embroiled in allegations concerning pension funds and his controversial return to the Federal Government service in 2017.
The EFCC notice urged members of the public with useful information about Maina’s whereabouts to contact its offices in Ibadan, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Benin, Makurdi, Kaduna, Ilorin, Enugu, Kano, Lagos, Gombe, Port Harcourt and Abuja.
The commission also provided a telephone contact and its official email address for information that could lead to his location.
Maina’s latest wanted declaration comes more than four years after the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted him on a 12-count money-laundering charge involving more than N2bn.
Justice Okon Abang, in November 2021, sentenced Maina to a total of 61 years on the various counts, with the terms to run concurrently, effectively amounting to eight years.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of about N2.1bn traced to Maina and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, as well as properties and vehicles linked to the offences.
Maina appealed the judgment, but the Court of Appeal in Abuja, in May 2023, upheld both his conviction and eight-year sentence, ruling that the EFCC had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
He was subsequently released from the Kuje Correctional Centre on February 25, 2025.
The Nigerian Correctional Service later explained that Maina’s release followed statutory remission based on the period he had spent in custody and his conduct in prison. According to the service, his sentence was deemed to have commenced from October 25, 2019, the date of his arrest.
Despite his release from prison, Maina remains a defendant in a separate criminal proceeding involving an alleged N738.6m receipt of stolen funds.
He and a co-defendant, Ann Igwe Olachi, were arraigned in 2019 on a nine-count charge. Both pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution alleges that Maina received funds from companies involved in contracts for the biometric enrolment of pensioners, knowing that the money had allegedly been stolen from the Federal Government.
The case has suffered several delays.
In February 2026, Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, threatened to revoke Maina’s bail following repeated delays and his absence from proceedings. The warning came after his lawyer presented a hospital referral while seeking an adjournment.
During the proceedings, an EFCC investigator, Gogi Mohammed, testified about properties allegedly linked to Maina.
The witness told the court that investigators recovered title documents, deeds of assignment and certificates of occupancy relating to more than 30 properties allegedly located mainly in Abuja and Kaduna.
He also alleged that some of the properties were acquired with substantial cash payments, including a property in Jabi, Abuja, allegedly purchased for $2m, and another in Life Camp reportedly acquired for $1.7m.
A property on Katoru Road, Kaduna, was also alleged to have been purchased for N100m.
The allegations remain subject to determination by the court.
Maina’s name first became prominent nationally during his tenure as chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, where he was involved in efforts to recover allegedly misappropriated pension funds.
However, his own activities subsequently came under investigation by the EFCC.
In 2015, the commission declared him wanted in connection with alleged procurement fraud and a multi-billion-naira pension biometric contract controversy involving, among others, former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Steve Oronsaye.
Maina’s return to government service in 2017 sparked another major controversy.
He had been absent from the country while facing allegations, but was recalled and posted to the Ministry of Interior.
The development generated widespread criticism and questions over who authorised his reinstatement.
On October 23, 2017, former President Muhammadu Buhari ordered his immediate disengagement from the Federal Government service and directed the Head of the Civil Service to submit a report explaining the circumstances surrounding his recall and posting.
Maina’s latest appearance on the EFCC wanted list therefore comes years after his conviction, imprisonment and subsequent release.
In 2026, his name again came into public focus following his appearance at an event organised by the Nigerian Bar Association’s Garki branch, where he was reportedly honoured and appointed a patron.
Maina has previously denied wrongdoing in relation to some of the allegations against him and has challenged aspects of the cases brought against him.
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