The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court in Abuja on Monday dismissed the application by former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki(rtd) seeking for his trial to be stopped.
In his ruling, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, struck out Dasuki’s application for lacking in merit, ordering that the trial continues.
Earlier, the embattled former NSA had sought to stop his trial on three prayers predicated on seven grounds implicit in the violation of his rights to bail by the Federal Government.
However, Baba-Yusuf held that the central issue is whether or not the Federal Government was in contempt of court for failing to release the accused person after he was granted bail.
He ruled that the Federal Government was not in contempt of court because it was the Department of State Service, DSS that was holding the embattled former NSA and not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which is the main prosecution in the case.
It is recalled that following the address by counsels to Dasuki, Joseph Daudu and the Federal Government, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, on a motion praying the release of the former NSA, Baba-Yusuf had fixed Monday to rule on whether to discharge or to continue the trial of Dasuki for money laundering charges brought against him by the Federal Government.
Daudu had asked the court to stop the Federal Government from prosecuting his client until he is released.
He argued that the federal government could not lawfully prosecute Dasuki because of its contempt of the court.
Dasuki’s counsel’s arguments was based on the fact that Justice Baba-Yusuf had granted his client bail on December 18, and after perfecting the bail conditions, he was rearrested, and taken into custody by the Department of the State Services, DSS.
Daudu informed the court that since December 29, 2015, that Dasuki was rearrested; he had been incarcerated and kept away from his lawyers and family.
DAILYPOST
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