Faisal Maina, son of former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, has reportedly been arrested in Abuja about six years after he jumped bail in a money laundering case.
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Faisal, who was subsequently convicted and sentenced in absentia, was reportedly arrested by operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) following intelligence that he had secretly returned to Nigeria.
According to reports, SSS operatives tracked him to the Karsana area of Abuja, where he was arrested before being handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“His arrest followed credible intelligence which indicated that Faisal had secretly returned to the country,” a source familiar with the development was quoted as saying.
As of the time of the report, neither the SSS nor the EFCC had publicly confirmed the arrest.
Faisal had been declared a fugitive after disappearing while standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on money laundering charges instituted by the EFCC.
He was arraigned in 2019 on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering and was subsequently granted bail. However, he allegedly breached the conditions of his bail and stopped attending court proceedings in 2020.
His absence did not halt the criminal proceedings, as the court continued the trial in his absence.
In October 2021, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted Faisal on the money laundering charges and sentenced him to a total of 14 years’ imprisonment.
The court held that the EFCC established its case concerning a bank account operated in the name of “Alhaji Faisal Farm 2” through which ₦58.1 million linked to his father was allegedly laundered.
According to the court’s findings, the funds were deposited into the account and subsequently withdrawn by Faisal and his father between October 2013 and June 2019.
Faisal had remained outside the reach of Nigerian authorities while the proceedings against him continued.
In November 2022, however, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction but reduced the prison sentence from 14 years to seven years.
The appellate court held that the trial court ought not to have imposed the maximum punishment on him as a first-time offender.
His reported arrest means he could now be taken into custody in connection with the subsisting conviction and sentence, subject to the appropriate legal and correctional processes.
Faisal’s father, Abdulrasheed Maina, was also prosecuted by the EFCC over pension-related money laundering allegations.
The elder Maina was convicted and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment over the laundering of about ₦2 billion in pension funds and served his sentence at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
He was released earlier in 2026 after completing his prison term but has since reportedly been declared wanted in connection with a separate allegation involving the receipt of stolen property.
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