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A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the remand of Faisal Maina, son of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, to a correctional centre to serve his seven-year jail term.
James Omotosho, the presiding judge, gave the order on Thursday after granting an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking a warrant for Faisal’s commitment to the Nigeria Correctional Service.
The EFCC had asked the court to enforce the conviction and sentence imposed on Faisal for money laundering and failure to fully disclose his assets in a declaration form.
The commission also requested that his prison term should commence from October 14, 2026, when he was rearrested by the Department of State Services in the Karsana area of Abuja.
Faisal was subsequently handed over to the EFCC, about six years after he jumped bail and disappeared during his trial.
After the EFCC counsel, M.K. Hussain, moved the application, Omotosho granted the reliefs sought and issued the committal warrant.
The judge directed that Faisal should serve three years’ imprisonment on count one, seven years on count two and three years on count three, in accordance with the Court of Appeal’s judgment of November 24, 2022.
The sentences are to run concurrently, starting from October 14, 2026.
Faisal was first arraigned in 2019 on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and failure to fully declare his assets. He pleaded not guilty to the charges before a former judge of the court, Justice Okon Abang.
However, he later jumped bail and stopped appearing for court proceedings, forcing Abang to continue the trial in his absence.
On October 7, 2021, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to five years in prison on counts one and three, and 14 years on count two. The sentences were to run concurrently.
The judge also ordered his arrest wherever he was found and directed that he be taken to a correctional facility to serve his sentence.
Although the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction, it reduced the prison terms in a judgment delivered on November 24, 2022, to three years on counts one and three, and seven years on count two.
Meanwhile, Faisal's father, Abdulrasheed, was separately convicted in a money laundering case involving approximately ₦2 billion. He has since served his prison sentence.
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