Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Asokoro, Abuja, on Friday reprimanded former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, and his defence counsel over what he described as repeated attempts to stall trial proceedings.
Maina is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside Ann Igwe Olachi on a nine-count charge bordering on the alleged receipt of stolen funds amounting to ₦738,612,019.99. The defendants were arraigned in 2019.
Friday’s proceedings, scheduled for a trial-within-trial, were stalled after Maina’s new counsel, Emmanuel Wuyi, requested a two-week adjournment, stating that he had just been briefed and needed time to study the case. He also cited the defendant’s ill health and expressed interest in exploring possible resolution with the prosecution.
Justice Kutigi, however, questioned the request, expressing frustration over the history of adjournments and frequent changes of legal representation by the defendant.
“Everybody is ready, everybody is tired… He has changed to another lawyer now and I have lost count of the numbers of lawyers who have appeared in this case,” the judge said, stressing the importance of maintaining the integrity of court proceedings.
Prosecution counsel, Francis Usani, opposed the adjournment, noting that witnesses were already present in court. He further pointed out that the defence had recently filed multiple applications, including for stay of proceedings, jurisdictional objections, travel permission, and appeal suggesting preparedness to proceed.
Usani even offered to allow defence counsel review video evidence of Maina’s recorded statement to avoid further delays and conserve judicial time.
In response to the court’s concerns, Maina’s counsel made an oral application to withdraw the motion for stay of proceedings dated February 10, 2026, and indicated readiness to proceed with the trial-within-trial.
Justice Kutigi granted the withdrawal and adjourned the matter to February 26, 2026, for continuation of the trial-within-trial.