any .obj should be accepted into Maya.
If you had another 3d program like Max you could open the .obj in there and re-save as .obj and then try again in Maya. Sometimes the file is write protected or needs to re-saved

I've noticed there is a difference between just

1. double clicking on the .obj file and Maya defaults to opens it
2. having Maya open and Opening the .obj
3. having Maya open and Importing the .obj

Try those and see if anything changes