A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed March 17 and 18 for a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana; the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, and nine others to appear before the court.
The trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, fixed the dates on Thursday for the persons to testify in the trial of Abdulrasheed Maina, a former chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT).
Justice Abang had issued a subpoena on Maina’s request, compelling the AGF, Falana, and the former acting chairman of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, and the eight others to come before the court on March 9, 10, and 11 to give their testimonies.
At the resumed trial, Falana informed the court that although he has not been served with the subpoena, he heard about it and decided to come before the court out of respect.
He said the subpoena would provide an opportunity for him to put an end to the needless controversy surrounding a property he never bought.
During the proceedings, the defendant called his second witness, Charles Emoakemeh, who is a retired prison officer.
Emoakemeh told the court that Maina was appointed as the Director of the Pension Office and recovered about N10 billion for the Federal Government after removing ghost pensioners.
He also noted that as the Head of the PRTT, Maina did not have control over the disbursement of monies unless approval was sought from the then Head of Service.
On March 4, Maina’s first witness, Ngozika Ihuoma, had told the court about monies and properties recovered by the former PRTT boss and how Magu to whom the properties were remitted, had allegedly sold some of the properties to friends and associate, including Falana.