A Nigerian high court judge on Friday reprimanded former pension reform official Abdulrasheed Maina and his legal team for repeatedly delaying his ongoing trial on corruption charges.
Maina, the ex-chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, and Ann Igwe Olachi face a nine-count charge before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja. They are accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of unlawfully receiving approximately N738.6 million in stolen funds. The defendants were first arraigned in 2019.
Proceedings scheduled for a trial-within-trial—a hearing to determine the admissibility of certain evidence—stalled again when Maina’s newly hired lawyer, Emmanuel Wuyi, requested a two-week adjournment. Wuyi stated it was his first appearance and he needed time to study the case file, adding he was also exploring a potential resolution with the prosecution.
However, Justice Abubakar Kutigi expressed strong dissatisfaction with the pattern of delays. He noted Maina had repeatedly changed legal representatives since the trial began, suggesting the tactics were intended to frustrate the process. “Two weeks for what? Everybody is ready, everybody is tired,” the judge remarked, warning that future claims of a denied fair hearing would not be entertained given the history of adjournments.
Prosecution counsel Francis Usani supported the judge’s frustration, revealing that several applications—including a stay of proceedings and challenges to the court’s jurisdiction—were filed by the defence only the day before. Usani argued that filing such “voluminous” applications indicated familiarity with the case, contradicting the claim of being new to it. He offered the new counsel an opportunity to review key video evidence to avoid further delays.
Addressing Wuyi directly, Justice Kutigi questioned the logic of seeking to continue the trial while simultaneously filing applications to halt it. “What do you really want? You have to decide on what we are coming here to do,” he stated.
In response, Wuyi made an oral application to withdraw the motion for a stay of proceedings. He confirmed his client’s readiness to proceed with the trial-within-trial at the next sitting. The court granted the withdrawal and adjourned the matter to February 26, 2026.
The case underscores persistent challenges in Nigeria’s high-profile corruption prosecutions, where lengthy pre-trial manoeuvres have historically drawn judicial criticism for undermining the speed and integrity of the legal process.
