Court Invites Malami, Former EFCC Boss To Testify In Maina’s Trial

A federal high court in Abuja has issued a subpoena compelling Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), and Ibrahim Magu, former acting chairman of the EFCC, to testify in the case against Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT).

The subpoena signed on March 8 by Okon Abang, the judge, asked 10 persons to come before the court on March 9, 10 and 11 to testify in Maina’s defence.

The document addressed to Malami and Magu reads: “You are commanded in the name of the president and commander in chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria to attend before this court at court 6, on 9^th, 10^th, 11^th day of March 2021 at 9 o’clock in the forenoon, and so from day to day till the above case is tied, to give evidence on behalf of the 1^st defendant.”

Those who were also subpoenaed are Femi Falana, M. Mustapha, Hassan Salihu, Mohammed Wakil, G.T Idris, Kenneth Amabem, Ibrahim Kaigama, and the director of compliance, Central Bank of Nigeria.

Maina is standing trial for allegedly laundering money to the tune of N2 billion.

The first defence witness in the case, Ngozika Ihuoma, had alleged that Magu misappropriated 222 properties worth N1.63 trillion recovered by the Maina-led PRTT.

He alleged that Magu sold most of the properties to his friends and associates.

Ihuoma had also told the court that the AGF and the national security adviser (NSA) met with Maina in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2016,

“After the meeting in Dubai, Maina gave the delegation intelligence report that led to the recovery of N1.3 trillion out of the N3 trillion promised to recover,” the witness said.