The
continued detention of former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo
Dasuki by the Department of State Security Service (DSS), in spite of a
court order that admitted him to bail since last year has again stalled
his trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Dasuki
who is being accused of unlawful possession of firearm has on December
29, 2015 perfected the last bail condition, the third in series of bail
but was promptly rearrested by the operatives of Department of State
Security Services (DSS) for undisclosed reasons. He has since been held
without trial.
However,
in the bid to enforce his bail, Dasuki’s legal team led by Mr. Joseph
Daudu applied to Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court to
discharge the accused on the ground that the government that put him on
trial was already in contempt of the court.
Daudu
in a motion he argued at the court asked the judge to in the
alternative discontinue the trial and strike out the charges against him
until the federal government obeys the bail granted Dasuki since last
year.
However,
in the bid to justify the continued detention, the federal government
through its counsel Mr. Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN) filed a counter affidavit
claiming that the sureties who stood for Dasuki have not fulfilled the
conditions attached to the bail. He also claimed that the government was
not in breach of the bail order because the international Passport of
Dasuki early seized by the DSS has since being returned to him.
The
government’s lawyer also claimed that the DSS only invited Dasuki to
have audience at its headquarters in furtherance to its statutory
responsibilities of conducting investigation in respect of entirely
different offences being handled by the Government.
However
Dasuki’s counsel informed Justice Ademola that they have just been
served with a copy of the government’s reply to their motion. And that
they needed time to respond to series of new issues raised by government
in its response.
He then applied to the Judge to grant him an adjournment to enable him study and reply to government's position.
In
his ruling, Justice Ademola said that it is in the best interest of
justice and fair hearing as allowed by Section 36 of 1999 Constitution
that the adjournment must be granted.
The
Judge also said that the court cannot close its eyes to the claim of
the defendant lawyer that they have no access to their client, Dasuki to
obtain fact to be used for his defence in the charges brought against
him by the federal government.
The
Judge ordered Dasuki’s counsel to file their response to the claim of
government within 7 days and adjourned till March 3, 2016.
By PRNigeria
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