Maina’s sister, Nafisat, disowns bank account linked to ex-Pension Reform chair

Mrs Nafisat Aliyu, younger sister to Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of defunct Pension Reform Task Team, on Wednesday disowned a bank account opened in her name before.

She spoke before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the account number: 4510002792, in one of the commercial banks in the country, is linked to Maina, who is currently facing a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering.

NAN also reports that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on October 25, 2019, charged Maina and his son, Faisal, before the court alongside his firm, Common Input Property and Investment Limited.

Although Faisal was arraigned on three counts bordering on money laundering, both the father and the son pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

At the resumed hearing yesterday, EFCC lawyer Mohammed Abubakar told the court that he was ready to present the fourth prosecution witness (PW4) to testify in the trial.

The witness, Nafisat, told the court that she was unaware of how the account was opened.

She said Toyin Meseke, a worker at the new generation bank, was a tenant in their family house in Karu, Abuja, and a friend to her younger brother, Khalid.

“They used to come to my house to eat then,” she said.

Nafisat said Toyin came to her house some years back and asked for her utility bill, adding that about three to four years after, she started receiving alerts.

The witness said she confronted him and asked him why she was getting alerts from the bank.

“I threatened to go to his office to create a scene, if he did not do something. He apologised, saying he would do something about it.

“It did not occur to me that without my number, Toyin could still make any transaction.

“It was later on that my sister, Fatima, was arrested by the EFCC in Kaduna.

“With this development, I drove myself to the EFCC office, because I was told that the EFCC would definitely come after me.

“So, I sat back and narrated the same story to them when they asked me if I knew anything about the account,” she said.

Nafisat said her address, phone number and signature were false in the account opening form, adding that only her international passport and photograph were genuine.

Nafisat, a civil servant, said the occupation in the account opening form was import and export.