'Everybody is Tired!' - Justice Kutigi Fires Maina
Last update: February 21, 2026
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Judge warns Maina against further delay tactics in his ongoing trial...
A judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Asokoro, Abubakar Kutigi, on Friday rebuked former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, over repeated delays in his ongoing trial.
During proceedings, Kutigi warned that Maina must appear in court and defend himself against the charges, stressing that the matter could not continue to suffer setbacks due to what he described as delay tactics.
CBI News reports that 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, sought an adjournment, explaining that he had only just been briefed on the case.
“My lord, the first defendant has been ill, and I understand that this case has a history of adjournments. This is my first time appearing before your lordship, being that I have just been briefed about this case.
“I am asking your lordship for two weeks to enable me to study the facts of the case, and I am even looking at resolving this matter with the prosecution,” Wuyi said.
In response, Justice Kutigi questioned the justification for the request, noting that all parties were prepared to proceed.
"Two weeks for what? Everybody is ready; everybody is tired.
"We want every party to have a fair hearing and do their cases, but when there is an adjournment, he will go and hire a new lawyer, and when we insist we will go on, you will now say you were denied a fair hearing.
"He has changed to another lawyer now, and I have lost count of the number of lawyers who have appeared in this case.
“We know the substance, and the end will determine it. The integrity of what we do here is critical and important,” the judge said.
Counsel to the EFCC, Francis Usani, also opposed the application, pointing out that prosecution witnesses were already present in court for the trial-within-trial.
Usani said, “My lord, only yesterday we were served with an application for a stay of proceedings, an application on the jurisdiction of this court, a travel application and an application for appeal.
“If he (defence counsel) has been able to file such voluminous and bulky applications, it is assumed that the counsel knows the case so that we can start, except he is going to withdraw these applications and take a decision if he wants to continue with the trial-within-trial.
“I can give him the opportunity to watch the video (statement recording video of the defendant), invite him to my office and let him watch the video. If he sees anything, then he let us know so that we can save the court’s time.”
Addressing the defence further, Kutigi demanded clarity on the approach being adopted.
"How can you say you want to do this case, and at the same time you filed applications of jurisdiction, stay of proceedings and so on?
“What do you really want? You have to decide on what we are coming here to do on the next adjourned date,” the judge asked.
Subsequently, the defence made an oral application to withdraw the motion for stay of proceedings dated February 10, 2026, and expressed readiness to proceed with the trial-within-trial at the next sitting.
The court granted the request to withdraw the stay application and adjourned the matter to February 26 for continuation of the trial-within-trial.
