The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has officially dissociated itself from the appointment of convicted pension fraudster Abdulrasheed Maina as Patron of its Garki branch in Abuja, calling the action “reprehensible” and a “mockery of the legal profession and the fight against corruption.”
According to a statement issued by NBA President Mazi Osigwe on Friday, disciplinary proceedings will commence against the Garki Branch Chairman, Anthony Ojo, who authorised Maina’s appointment.
“The purported appointment not only paints the legal profession and the NBA in a bad light but also makes a mockery of the government’s fight against corruption, as well as the association’s motto of promoting the rule of law,” Mr Osigwe said.
“The Bar fails in her duties to the society and the cause of justice when it condones, encourages, and or fails to take definite actions to eliminate corruption and corrupt practices.”
At the event, Mr Maina called for an intensified investigation into former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.
“What the government has seen so far may only be a fraction. My speciality is the recovery of public funds. We can recover more. There must be accountability, transparency, and the rule of law. Malami should be properly prosecuted and investigated again because he has not been properly investigated,” Mr Maina said.
He claimed that powerful persons in the former administration orchestrated his corruption saga and denied wrongdoing, insisting that Mr Malami and other top forces in the Buhari administration were after him.
Mr Maina, a former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, was appointed in 2010 by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to reform the pension system and eliminate ghost workers.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) later charged him in FHC/ABJ/CR/256/2019 with using fictitious names and accounts to siphon pension funds through relatives and accomplices.
Three of his siblings testified against him in court, revealing how Mr Maina fraudulently used their information to open accounts for his company, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd. Nigerian banks, including UBA and Fidelity Bank Plc, were reported to have acted as conduits for the stolen funds.
After fleeing Nigeria in 2013, he was arrested and extradited in 2019.
In November 2021, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment for laundering N2 billion in pension funds.
“The facts of this case are sordid, immoral, and morbid. The facts portray the moral decadence in Nigeria,” Justice Abang noted.
The Court of Appeal later affirmed the conviction and handed a 14-year jail term to Mr Maina’s son, Faisal, for related offences.
Recent Release from Prison
Though the exact date is unclear, Mr Maina quietly completed his prison term in February 2025.
Thursday’s NBA event marked one of his first public appearances since his release.
Recounting his time as a fugitive, he claimed, “I was flown out of the country on a government aircraft for medical care, but officials turned around and arrested me in the Niger Republic for jumping bail.”
The NBA has ordered Mr Ojo to immediately withdraw Maina’s appointment and stop issuing statements on his behalf or on pending court cases.
“While the NBA respects Mr Maina’s right to exhaust his right to appeal against the conviction, the Bar will not under any guise comment on such an appeal or be seen to try to sway public opinion in his favour,” the statement said.
Mr Osigwe added, “The association would not lend its platform, name, or institutional credibility to influence public opinion or judicial proceedings in respect of cases that are sub judice or take steps that may be perceived as laundering the image of any person convicted of criminal offences.”
He described such acts as “a grave violation of professional ethics and a direct affront to the rule of law.”
The NBA president stressed that integrity, accountability, respect for the judicial process, and public confidence in the legal profession are foundational values.
He warned that any conduct undermining these principles would attract decisive institutional response.
“The NBA views this conduct as a serious breach of professional responsibility and institutional discipline. Accordingly, disciplinary proceedings will be commenced against the Chairman of the NBA Garki Branch for actions inconsistent with the Constitution of the NBA, the Rules of Professional Conduct, and the core values of the legal profession.”
