A Nigerian lawmaker, Sen. Ali Ndume, has been remanded in jail after a former pension boss he stood surety for failed to appear for trial.
Ndume, the Senator representing Borno South in the West African country’s Upper House, had stood as surety for former Chairman, defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina, who is standing trial on money laundering charges.
Maina, who was arraigned before the Federal High Court, Abuja, presided over by Okon Abang, on October 25, 2019, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his son, Faisal, and firm, Common Input Property and Investment Ltd., was released from Kuje in July 2020 after spending nine months in Kuje Correctional Centre.
He had already spent nine months at the prison at the time.
Ndume had also sometime in July revealed that it took him six months of painful consideration to agree to be a surety for the ex-Pension boss, and that it was part of the cross he had to carry as Mr Maina’s elected senator.
Since perfecting his bail terms Mr Maina had, however, refused to show up in court.
On Monday, 23 November 2020, Justice Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered Sen. Ndume to be remanded in Kuje Prison.
The judge gave the order when Ndume failed to file a formal application to show cause why he should not forfeit the bail bond of N500 million deposed to on May 5 to stand as surety for Maina.
The EFCC’s Lawyer, Mohammed Abubakar, had, on Nov. 18, asked the court to make an order for the lawmaker to forfeit the bail bond since Maina, who he stood as surety for, had jumped bail.
Abubakar also asked the court to revoke Maina’s bail and issued a warrant of arrest on him.
Although the court granted the applications by the EFCC on Maina, it gave Ndume an opportunity to appear with his legal representation and adjourned until Dec. 23.
Justice Abang, in his ruling, ordered Ndume’s remand pending the time he was able to fulfil the bail bond or produce Maina in court.