The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested Faisal Abdulrasheed Maina, the son of former Pension Reform Task Team chairman Abdulrasheed Maina, following several years on the run after violating his bail conditions during a money laundering trial. The security agency subsequently handed him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which prosecuted him.
The arrest was reported on Friday, October 16, 2026, after DSS operatives reportedly located Faisal in the Karsana area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. According to security sources cited by Nigerian news organisations, the operation followed intelligence indicating that he had returned to Nigeria after leaving the country while facing criminal proceedings.
A security source familiar with the operation said the authorities received information about Faisal's return before tracing him to Karsana. The source attributed his apprehension to intelligence gathered by the DSS, although the precise date of his return and the circumstances of his movement into Nigeria were not disclosed.
Following his arrest, Faisal was transferred to the EFCC, the federal anti-corruption agency responsible for his earlier prosecution. Reports from TheCable, PUNCH and THISDAY confirmed the handover, which followed a court judgment convicting him of money laundering offences.
Faisal had been facing prosecution since 2019 over allegations involving financial transactions linked to his father, Abdulrasheed Maina, who previously headed the defunct Presidential Task Team on Pension Reforms. The EFCC brought a three-count charge against him concerning money laundering and related financial offences.
The proceedings centred on a bank account maintained with United Bank for Africa under the name Alhaji Faisal Farm 2. Prosecutors alleged that the account was used to receive and withdraw funds connected to unlawful financial activities involving his father.
According to findings subsequently made by the Federal High Court in Abuja, transactions involving approximately ₦58.1 million were conducted through the account between October 2013 and June 2019. The court found that Faisal operated the account and participated in the withdrawal of the funds.
The case continued after Faisal failed to comply with his bail conditions in 2020. His absence prompted the court to take steps to secure his attendance, including issuing an arrest warrant after he stopped appearing for proceedings.
Earlier records show that the EFCC informed the Federal High Court in December 2020 that security operatives had rearrested Faisal following an earlier period of absence. The commission had previously reported that he jumped bail in June of that year.
Despite those developments, the criminal proceedings subsequently continued without him. The court proceeded to determine the charges on the evidence presented during the trial.
On October 7, 2021, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja convicted Faisal on the money laundering charges and imposed a prison sentence of 14 years.
The judgment followed the court's assessment of evidence concerning the bank account and the financial transactions examined during the proceedings. The court also directed that Faisal should be arrested wherever he was found within Nigeria and taken into custody to serve his sentence.
The judgment further provided for lawful steps to secure his extradition if he was located outside the country. Those directions formed part of the measures intended to enforce the court's decision following his absence from the proceedings.
However, the sentence was subsequently reviewed by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which delivered its decision on November 24, 2022.
The appellate court upheld Faisal's conviction but reduced the custodial sentence from 14 years to seven years. It ruled that the trial court had imposed the maximum punishment without adequately considering his status as a first-time offender.
Justice Ugochukwu Anthony Ogakwu, who delivered the appellate judgment, maintained the findings of guilt while varying the punishment imposed by the Federal High Court.
Consequently, the seven-year sentence imposed following the appeal, rather than the original 14-year term, is the relevant punishment when reporting the outcome of Faisal's prosecution.
The latest arrest comes against the background of separate criminal proceedings involving his father, Abdulrasheed Maina, whose tenure as chairman of the pension reform task team became the subject of an EFCC investigation.
In November 2021, the Federal High Court convicted the elder Maina and his company, Common Input Property and Investment Limited, on charges involving the laundering of pension funds. He was sentenced to imprisonment following the proceedings.
The prosecution concerned financial transactions involving more than ₦2 billion, with the court finding that funds connected to the pension system had been unlawfully handled.
Maina served his prison sentence at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja and was released in 2026. He was subsequently declared wanted in connection with a separate allegation involving the receipt of stolen property, according to reports published before his son's latest arrest.
Those proceedings involving the elder Maina are distinct from Faisal's conviction, although the financial transactions examined in the son's prosecution were linked to his father's activities.
Security sources cited in reports of Friday's arrest said Faisal's transfer to the EFCC was intended to facilitate enforcement of the existing court judgment.
The reports did not establish whether he had already been transferred to a correctional facility following the handover. No further court appearance or additional charge arising from the latest arrest was confirmed in the information available at the time.
The DSS operation brings Faisal back into the custody of Nigerian authorities after his prolonged absence from the criminal proceedings.
His conviction had already been upheld by the Court of Appeal, with the sentence reduced to seven years in November 2022.
The latest development therefore concerns his arrest and transfer to the agency responsible for his prosecution, rather than the commencement of a new money laundering trial.
Further information from the EFCC or the relevant correctional authorities will establish the arrangements made following his transfer.
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