‘How Dasuki Approved Transfers Of ONSA Funds To Private Firms’, EFCC Witness Reveals

An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday told an Abuja High Court how former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, allegedly approved the transfer of hundreds of millions of naira from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to private companies linked to former government officials.

The witness, who testified as the first prosecution witness (PW1), appeared before Justice C.O. Agbaza of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama, in the ongoing trial of Dasuki.

Dasuki is standing trial alongside a former General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa, and two companies, Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.

The defendants are facing a 32-count amended charge, which borders on criminal breach of trust and money laundering, involving N33.2 billion.

Led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), the EFCC investigator said the Commission wrote to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to verify the ownership of several companies that featured in the investigation, including Acacia Holdings Limited, Aravcaria Farms, Reliance Referral Hospital Limited, and Pinmax Security and Gas.

He said CAC’s response confirmed that Baba-Kusa owns Acacia Holdings, while Aravcaria Farms and Pinmax Security and Gas are sister companies.

According to him, Baba-Kusa’s wife was also listed as a major shareholder in Acacia Holdings, holding 1.8 million shares. The court admitted the relevant documents as Exhibits E1 to E4.

The witness further told the court that EFCC obtained records of ONSA’s operations account with Zenith Bank (account number 101419287), which contained payment mandates directing the bank to debit N650.75 million and credit Acacia Holdings’ accounts with United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Ecobank, as well as Reliance Referral Hospital’s account with First Bank.

He said the payment instructions were duly signed by Dasuki.

The investigator added that Acacia Holdings’ UBA account records showed another N200 million transfer from the ONSA account on October 9, 2014, in addition to an earlier N600 million payment.

An analysis of the transactions, he said, revealed several disbursements to individuals and related entities.

“On October 14, 2014, N3 million was withdrawn by Atahiru Maccido, a staff and financial controller of Acacia Holdings. The following day, N1 million was transferred to Aravcaria Farms, while N2 million was used to offset a director’s loan in two separate tranches of N1 million each,” the witness testified.

After hearing the testimony, Justice Agbaza adjourned the case to January 13, 14, and 15, 2026, for continuation of the trial.