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Maina In Detention In Niger, To Be Extradited To Nigeria – Police

Nigeria Police Headquarters Tuesday evening said they were perfecting the extradition processes of Abdulrashid Abdullahi Maina, the fugitive former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) to Nigeria to enable him face trial in pending criminal proceedings against him.

Maina, who had jumped bail granted him in a money laundering case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was arrested in Niger Republic on Monday.

He was arrested after Nigerian Government reached out to the Niger Republic and United States in search of him.

Police confirmed that Maina was arrested through the collaborative efforts of the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, INTERPOL NCB, Abuja and their Nigerien counterpart.


“Following the arrest of former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrashid Abdullahi Maina in Niamey, Niger Republic, the NPF is perfecting extradition processes of the fugitive to Nigeria to enable him face trial in pending criminal proceedings against him,” police said in a statement.

Police stated that Maina is currently in a detention facility in Niger Republic awaiting the completion of the extradition processes”.

“The Force assures the citizens that there shall be no hiding place for any suspect, no matter how highly placed,” the statement added.

HumAngle reports that Maina was released from Kuje Correctional Centre nine months after his detention on July 27 after Ali Ndume, a serving senator representing Borno South Senatorial District stood surety for him.

But he had repeatedly failed to appear in court for the continuation of his trial in the 12-count charge money laundering case against him in which he had pleaded not guilty.

A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the arrest of Ndume over his suretyship for Maina after the latter failed to appear before the court.

The court, however, on Friday, granted bail to the lawmaker after he spent five days in prison.

Justice Abang, in a ruling, said he chose to grant the senator bail based on his record of good behaviour before the court, notwithstanding that the other grounds of his bail application failed.

Maina May Not Be Granted Another Bail – Lawyer

According to Sunusi Musa, an Abuja based lawyer, the court grants bail to an accused based on the two major conditions that his or her whereabouts will be known and will be appearing in a court at a certain date.

The lawyer said Maina has failed the two major conditions by trying to jump the bail and evade justice, which means he lost his right to bail and may not be trusted for another bail again.

However, section 174(b) of ACJA states that if the accused “for the purpose of evading justice, is about to leave or has left the division or district of the court before which he is to appear or in which he normally resides, the court may cause him to be arrested and may commit him to prison until the trial, unless the court considers it fit to admit him to bail on further recognizance.”

But Sunusi thinks no court will trust Maina and no one will risk being his surety again, looking at what happened to Ndume, even if the court may consider to admit him to bail on further recognisance.

Ndume also has a right to say that he no longer desires to act as Maina’s surety as it is in section 177 of ACJA which provides that “at any time within the duration of the case, a surety may request that he be discharged from the bail bond and after which the court will order for the re-arrest of the accused.”


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Aliyu Dahiru

Aliyu is an Assistant Editor at HumAngle and Head of the Radicalism and Extremism Desk. He has years of experience researching misinformation and influence operations. He is passionate about analysing jihadism in Africa and has published several articles on the topic. His work has been featured in various local and international publications.

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