EFCC Says Dasuki Refused to Appear in Court

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EFCC Says Dasuki Refused to Appear in Court

By Correspondent

Justice Baba Yusuf of a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, was on Wednesday informed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, bluntly refused to be brought to the court for his trial. Recall that the anti-graft agency had dragged Dasuki alongside a former Director of Finance and Administration in the NSA office, Shuaibu Salisu, and a former General Manager, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Aminu Babakusa to the court on 19 counts of diversion of N32bn meant for arms procurement. Other defendants in the charge are, Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited, owned by Babakusa. Lawyer to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), informed the judge that, “The first defendant said he would not be in court unless he is abducted because his lead counsel, J. B Daudu and Ahmed Raji, are not going to be in court.” Though Jacobs admitted that Daudu had notified him of an application for proceedings to be stayed already before the Court of Appeal, he insisted that the law never stopped an accused person in detention from facing trial. Jacobs added that “When a defendant is in custody, the counsel should be allowed access to the defendant. I asked the DSS whether the lawyers ever made an attempt to see him, they said they never did. It is a deliberate plan to frustrate the trial.” But in responding, a lawyer who represented Dasuki at Wednesday’s sitting on the matter, Wale Balogun denied the allegation that his client refused to be brought to court. According to the lawyer, “Concerning the allegation, the defence lawyer is not aware of it. The defendant is not in court; he has not been produced. It is the requirement of the law that he should be here. The prosecution has not applied for the accused to be excused from court. The DSS official should have deposed to an affidavit to that effect.” 

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