Political Briefs
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A HIGH court in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, on Friday, March 4, dismissed the application filed by Sambo Dasuki, a retired colonel and former national security adviser, to stop his trial, saying it lacked of merit.
Dasuki was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for allegedly mismanaging $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms for the Nigerian Army fighting insurgents in the North-East.
He, however, had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Justice Peter Affen, in his ruling, dismissed the application on the grounds that Dasuki’s re-arrest on December 29, 2015 did not violate the order of the court granting him bail.
Besides, Affen held that the continued detention of Dasuki did not violate his order granting the ex-NSA bail on December 21, 2015. He also said that the application lacked merit and ordered that the trial of the ex-NSA, who was charged along with others, should continue. “Since it was clear that the ex-NSA was not re-arrested by the EFCC but by the Department of State Service, the EFCC could not be said to have violated the said order granting him bail,” the judge said.
Affen similarly held that though the EFCC and the DSS were both federal agencies, the wrongdoing of one could not be blamed on the order. He also ruled that the order granting bail to the defendant did not preclude him from being re-arrested by other agencies of the federal government in respect of other alleged crime. He said, the EFCC did not violate its order, even if it did, Dasuki’s lawyer did not show how that could have constituted grounds for discharging him or stay the criminal proceedings.
The judge fixed April 20 and April 22 for trial.
Earlier, Justice Baba Yusuf of the same court, had on February 8, made similar declaration that the detention of Dasuki was in not in breach of his December 18, 2015 order granting him bail. The judge had fixed March 23, to start the trial. Similar applications seeking for orders prohibiting the EFCC from further prosecuting him were filed before the two judges. Dasuki urged the two courts for an order discharging him of the alleged crime or alternatively staying proceedings.
— Mar 14, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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