In a shocking revelation, former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina, reportedly used funds siphoned from Nigeria’s pension system to acquire luxury properties abroad. Investigations by Premium Times, in partnership with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), show that Maina purchased four foreign properties worth over $1.3 million between 2010 and 2013.
Property records reviewed by Premium Times indicate that in August 2010, Maina bought a $215,000 home in Frankfort, Kentucky, United States, paying entirely in cash. In 2011, he acquired two more houses in Kentucky through his company, VIU Investment LLC, totaling $415,000. Later, in June 2013, shortly after leaving office, Maina purchased a two-bedroom hotel apartment in Dubai for nearly $700,000, which is now registered in the name of his daughter, Farida Abdulrasheed Maina.
ALSO: Names, Ranks of 16 Military Officers Detained Over Alleged Coup Plot Against Tinubu (FULL LIST)
Court documents allege that during this period, Maina and his personal secretary diverted over $1 million from pension funds. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) previously stated that Maina also fraudulently obtained $1.8 million through pension biometrics contracts just before his first U.S. property acquisition.
In 2022, a Kentucky court transferred ownership of the Frankfort home to Maina’s ex-wife, Laila Abdulrasheed Maina, as part of a divorce settlement. At the time, Maina had already been convicted of money laundering in Nigeria. While Nigerian authorities forfeited his domestic properties, his foreign assets remain outside the reach of the EFCC.
Maina’s legal troubles in Nigeria include an eight-year jail sentence in 2021 for laundering N2 billion in pension funds. Despite fleeing Nigeria and later being extradited from Niger Republic, he resurfaced publicly in 2025 after receiving a controversial “Rule of Law and Courage Award” from a local branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which the national body promptly disowned.
Stefan Cassella, a former U.S. Justice Department official, told Premium Times that foreign authorities could investigate Maina’s ex-wife if it is proven she knowingly benefited from criminal proceeds.
Efforts to reach Maina and his ex-wife for comment have reportedly been unsuccessful.
