$2.1bn Arms Deal: Court fixes Feb. 27 to rule on motion to stop Dasuki’s trial

An Abuja High Court at Maitama, on Tuesday, slated February 27 to rule on a motion seeking to stop the ongoing trial of the detained former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, retd.

Former national security adviser of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Sambo Dasuki (R), speaks with his lawyer Ahmed Raji, during his trial at the federal high court in Abuja, on September 1, 2015. Nigerian prosecutors on September 1, 2015 slapped a charge of unlawful possession of arms against Dasuki. Dasuki was arraigned on a “one-count charge of being in possession of firearms without licence,” Prosecutor Mohammed Diri told the federal high court in Abuja. 

Dasuki, who has been in detention since 2015, is facing two separate criminal charges before the court. He is answering to a 22-count charge involving his alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of  N19.4Billion.

diversion of N32billion from an account the Office of the NSA, operated with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which is prosecuting both cases, maintained that the alleged stolen funds were part of about $2.1billion that was meant for the purchase of arms to combat terrorism in the North-East. Those equally on trial before the court over the alleged fraud were a former General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Aminu Baba-Kusa, former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Bafarawa, his son, Sagir, Director of Finance and Administration in the Office of the NSA, Shuaibu Salisu, and the former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda. Two firms – Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited – were also charged as defendants in the matter. However, before hearing could commence on the case, EFCC, amended the charge and delisted the ex-NNPC Director, Salisu, as a defendant in the trial. Meantime, Dasuki, on January 9, filed a motion asking the court to adjourn his trial sine-die (indefinitely), pending when the Federal Government, complied with various court orders that directed his release on bail. Specifically, Dasuki, through his lawyer Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN, urged the court to halt further proceeding in the case to compel FG to obey a judgment the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered on July 2, 2018, which ordered his unconditional release. He noted that trial Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu had in the said judgement, directed the immediate enforcement of his fundamental rights to freedom and liberty, as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, as amended. The detained ex-NSA equally prayed the court to order EFCC’s lead counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, to produce an advisory the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, issued with respect to the high court’s verdict