By Emmanuel Thomas l Wednesday, Sept 23, 2026
ABUJA — The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared the former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, wanted over a fresh case bordering on receiving stolen property.
The anti-graft agency officially announced the manhunt in a public notice released on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, signed by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale.
According to the statement issued alongside Maina’s photograph, the 61-year-old indigene of Biu Local Government Area in Borno State is currently being sought to answer criminal allegations linked to illicitly acquired properties.
”The public is hereby notified that Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina, whose photograph appears above, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in an alleged case of Receiving Stolen Properties,” the commission stated.
The EFCC urged members of the public with useful information regarding Maina’s whereabouts to contact any of its zonal commands across the country, including Abuja, Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kaduna, Ilorin, Benin, Makurdi, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Uyo, and Gombe, or report to the nearest police station or security agency.
Background: A Long Trail of Legal Battles
Maina’s latest declaration marks another chapter in his turbulent legal battles with Nigerian law enforcement and the judiciary, spanning over a decade.
The Pension Reform Task Team Era
Maina was appointed in 2010 to head the PRTT, a body established under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan to restructure the federal pension scheme and eliminate fraudulent “ghost pensioners.”
However, his tenure quickly became embroiled in controversy following allegations of large-scale diversion of pension funds meant for thousands of retired public servants.
First Manhunt and Arrest in Niger Republic
In 2017, the EFCC initially declared Maina wanted over an alleged ₦2 billion pension fraud. Despite being on the run, he controversially returned to Nigeria and was reinstated into the Federal Civil Service, sparking public outrage.
Following his subsequent arraignment in 2019 on a 12-count charge of money laundering, Maina jumped bail in 2020 and fled to the neighboring Niger Republic. He was eventually tracked down, arrested in Niamey by international law enforcement collaboration, and extradited to Nigeria to face trial.
In November 2021, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, convicted Maina on all counts of money laundering involving ₦2.1 billion. He was sentenced to an eight-year cumulative prison term, and the court ordered the forfeiture of his money and properties to the Federal Government. His conviction was later affirmed by the Court of Appeal in May 2023.
Maina served part of his sentence at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja before being released in February 2025 by the Nigerian Correctional Service. The correctional service cited statutory remission calculated from his initial arrest date in October 2019, combined with prison good conduct, as the legal basis for his early release.
Beyond his previous conviction, Maina was also embroiled in an ongoing nine-count charge before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The case involves allegations that he, alongside co-defendant Ann Igwe Olachi, received ₦738.6 million in stolen funds connected to dubious pension biometric enrolment contracts.
In early 2026, the presiding judge, Justice Abubakar Kutigi, cautioned the defense team over incessant trial delays, warning that Maina’s bail could be revoked if the proceedings were continually stalled.
With the EFCC’s fresh declaration on Wednesday, security agencies have reignited a nationwide watch to apprehend the former pension chief.
