Why Maina Was Freed After Four Years In Prison — NCoS Explains

According to Ireporter Online, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has provided clarification on the release of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, who regained his freedom in February 2025 after serving about four years of an eight-year prison sentence.

Maina, who was convicted in November 2021 for laundering approximately ₦2 billion in pension funds, was released on February 25, 2025. The correctional service disclosed this in response to a Freedom of Information request, explaining that his release was carried out in line with statutory provisions governing sentence remission for inmates.

In a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, JN Osuji, the NCoS stated that Maina’s sentence officially began from the date of his arrest on October 25, 2019. The service noted that under Order 138 of the Nigerian Correctional Service Standing Orders (Custodial), Revised Edition 2020, inmates who exhibit good conduct and engage productively while in custody are entitled to remission of their sentences.

The NCoS explained that Maina met the required conditions for such remission, leading to his Earliest Date of Release being calculated as February 25, 2025, which was subsequently implemented. It stressed that the process was lawful and transparent, adding that no preferential treatment or external influence played any role in his release.

Maina was convicted by the Federal High Court in Abuja in a case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/258/2019 and sentenced to multiple prison terms, with the longest being eight years, all to run concurrently.

Investigations previously conducted by journalists had alleged that Maina acquired properties valued at over $1.3 million in the United States and Dubai between 2010 and 2013, during the period he was accused of diverting public pension funds. He fled Nigeria in 2013 but returned in 2017, sparking public outrage after revelations emerged that he had been secretly reinstated and promoted in the civil service while still a fugitive.

Following his reappearance, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission declared him wanted, leading to his arrest in 2019. During an earlier attempt to apprehend him, his son reportedly attempted to obstruct law enforcement officers in a dramatic escape effort.

Maina later absconded from trial but was rearrested in the Republic of Niger after an Interpol red notice was issued and was subsequently extradited to Nigeria. Prosecutors alleged that he laundered pension funds using fictitious identities and bank accounts, with the involvement of relatives who were bank officials. Testimonies from his siblings detailed how their personal information was used to facilitate the scheme through a company that was later convicted and ordered to be wound up.

At sentencing, the trial judge observed that Maina’s earnings as a civil servant could not have legitimately accounted for the sums involved in the case. Despite his conviction, Maina still faces other pending embezzlement charges before the courts.

Since his release, Maina largely remained out of public view until he was recently named a patron by a branch of the Nigerian Bar Association and presented with an award. During the event, he maintained his innocence, alleging persecution by officials of the previous administration.

The national leadership of the NBA, however, swiftly disowned the action, condemning the appointment and announcing disciplinary measures against the branch chairman who conferred the honour.