AbdulRasheed Maina
The formal  Chairman of  Pension Reform Task Team, AbdulRasheed Maina, on Wednesday told Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that his remarks about him in the last proceeding was unfair.

Maina, who spoke through his counsel, Joe Gadzama, SAN, during the commencement of trial on the case against him filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, sought for the case to be reassigned to another judge.
Gadzama had stood in for Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that on October 25, Justice Abang, while he was about to deliver a ruling on the bail application filed by counsel to Maina, Raji, told the court registrar to tell Maina to stop looking at him to enable him to concentrate on delivering the ruling.

“Judge said Please, I don’t want the first defendant to look at me when I am delivering my ruling, so that I can concentrate,” he had said.

The court registrar, in an attempt to amplify the directive of the judge, asked Maina to look at the prosecution who brought him to court.
Abang, who was visibly unhappy with the court registrar’s comment, cautioned him.
The judge later continued with his ruling, ordering the EFCC to remand the defendant in the Nigerian Correctional Service Centre and adjourned for October 30 (today).

However, at the resumed trial on Wednesday, Maina signaled his intention to talk while in the dock, but Justice Abang overruled him since he was represented at the court by Gadzama.
“I cannot allow the defendant to speak since he is represented in court,” Abang said.
With the permission of the judge, Gadzama walked to meet Maina, who was in the dock, listened to him as he muttered some words to him.

When Gadzama returned to his seat, he told the judge what Maina had told him.
“My lord, the first defendant told me I should tell the court, on his behalf, that on October 25, he was before the court and while the court was on, the court asked him not to look at him.
“And he wondered why he should not look at him since he was not the only one that appeared before the court that day,” he said.

Gadzama said as a result of the judge’s remark, Maina told him that his high blood pressure rose astronomically, and he felt so bad with the comment as if he had been convicted already.
Maina’s counsel, therefore, told Justice Abang that his client told him he would seek the indulgence of the court if the case could be reassigned to another judge.
Responding, Justice Abang, who said he was uncomfortable with the way the defendant stared at him consistently while he was about to deliver his ruling that day, said, “I merely advised him not to stare at me.

“I can’t allow him to stare at me consistently. I am in control of my proceedings and I should also protect myself.
“If somebody is staring at me consistently, I should protect myself because I did not commit any offence and I did not put him there, neither did I assign the case to myself,” he said