Former national security adviser, (NSA) Col Sambo Dasuki, has told Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to turn down the Department of State Service (DSS’) request to represent exhibits once the court rejects them in the trial against him.
The DSS dragged the former NSA before the court over unlawful possession of firearms.
The court fixed the ruling on October 14 following the request of the DSS lead lawyer, Oladipupo Okpeseyi, SAN, to represent the rejected exhibits.
In a surprising move, Okpeseyi, SAN, in the middle of the proceedings, applied orally to Justice Lifu to shift the sitting of the court to DSS Headquarters in Abuja for the purpose of inspecting some vehicles said to have been recovered in Dasuki’s house during the 2015 search warrant.
He said the vehicles have been parked at the DSS headquarters for the past 10 years and should be inspected by the court before being admitted as exhibits against Dasuki.
Apparently taken aback by the request, the Judge asked for the nature of the exhibits to be inspected at the DSS headquarters.
In response, Dasuki’s counsel, Mr Aliyu Usman from Ahmed Raji, SAN Chambers, submitted that the court, having decided on the exhibits, cannot revisit and admit them again.
He read out the judge’s earlier ruling, in which it was clearly stated that the rejected exhibits have no relevance to the alleged unlawful possession of firearms and thus failed the test of admissibility.
Dasuki’s lawyer argued that the only option open to the DSS was to go to the Court of Appeal to challenge the earlier rejection of the exhibits rather than inviting the same Judge to sit as an Appeal Court on the same matter.
He pleaded with Justice Lifu to throw away the application as baseless, ill-conceived, misplaced, unwarranted, and a ploy to draw the hand of the clock backwards.
After hearing the arguments for and against, Justice Lifu fixed October 14 to rule on the application and to continue the trial.
