Maina has partial stroke, says lawyer

Anayo Adibe, the lawyer of Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), says his client has suffered a partial stroke at the Kuje correctional centre where he is being detained.

Maina is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 12 counts bordering on money laundering to the tune of N2 billion.

He had jumped bail in September but was rearrested in Niger Republic and extradited to Nigeria to continue his trial before Justice Okon Abang of a Federal High Court in Abuja.

In an interview with We FM, Adibe said his client is in a “very bad shape” and needed urgent medical attention.

He said, “I visited him at the prison about a week ago and from the visit, he was not looking fine at all.

“I was told he had suffered a mild stroke; his blood pressure has been very high and his sugar level has risen astronomically. He is in a very bad shape.”

He said although the resident doctor at the correctional facility had tried to keep Maina’s health under control, the facility is not equipped enough to give him adequate medical attention.

Adibe said, “The resident doctor has written several letters to the authorities asking that he be taken to a better and well equipped medical facility. Those letters have not been responded to.

“As his lawyers, we have taken a step further. We have written the comptroller-general, informing him of the dire situation our client finds himself presently and that except he is afforded quick medical attention, the story might change very soon because the truth is that we fear for his life.”

He added that he had filed an application for his client to be granted bail on health grounds and case fixed for January 20, to hear the application.