A Federal Capital Territory High Court has adjourned the trial of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, in the alleged money laundering charges brought against him by the Federal Government till May 2 and 3 for definite trial.
A Judge of the Court, Justice Husseini Baba Yusuf, announced the new trial date in Abuja after being presented with the Supreme Court judgement of March 2, 2018, which ordered accelerated hearing into the case.
However, to ensure effective management of the two separate charges against Dasuki and other defendants, the court fixed April 13 for a pre-trial conference to be attended by seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria involved in the case so as to enable them take common positions on documents from the prosecution and those from the defendants.
During the Conference, which will be presided over by Justice Yusuf, all documents that are not contentious will be admitted from the bar, while the contentious ones are to be tendered during trial to ensure speedy hearing of the cases, which was filed in September 2015.
Senior counsels involved in the matter, especially Rotimi Jacobs, for prosecution, Ahmed Raji, Akin Olujimi, Olajide Ayodele, Kayode Olatoke, Hakeem Afolabi and Solomon Umoh, who are standing for different defendants in the trial, all agreed with the Supreme Court decision for accelerated hearing and the pre-trial conference to sort out all the contentious issues.
Raji who led the legal team for Dasuki, had told the court that the decision of the Supreme Court indicated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is different from Department of State Services and that both are not serving the same government.
The Federal Government had slammed charges against Dasuki; Salisu, Shuaib Director of Finance, ONSA; Aminu Baba-Kusa, Acacia Holding Limited; and Reliance Referral Hospital on alleged money laundering and criminal breach of trust.
Although the charges were filed in 2015, proper trial could not commence due to the failure of the Federal Government to allow Dasuki, the principal defendant in the matter, enjoy the bails granted him by different courts since 2015.
In the bid to enforce the bail order, Dasuki had approached the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court to compel the Federal Government to allow him go on bail as ordered by the trial court, just like other defendants, to enable access to his lawyers and prepare for his defence as required by law.
However, both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court had in their separate judgements disagreed with Dasuki that the Federal Government did not obey the bail order.
The two courts held that since his bail at the Kuje Prison was endorsed by the Controller of Prison and he was released before he was re-arrested by another agent of the Federal Government, the bail had been obeyed at that level.
With the new Supreme Court decision, especially on accelerated hearing, full scale trial is now expected to commence on May 2, 2018.
Baba-Yusuf in his brief comment had appealed to the senior lawyers involved in the matter to cooperate with one another, especially with the prosecution, to allow the trial to flow so that justice of the case can be met within a reasonable time.
The judge said as a minister in the temple of justice, the senior lawyers should do away with sentiments and do their jobs as legal practitioners of reputable standing in the interest of justice for both parties.
At the proceeding, apart from Dasuki; former Governor of Sokoto, Attahiru Bafarawa; and former Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, among others were all present in court to answer the charges against them.
APC Slams Fayose Over Alleged Misconduct To Ekiti Monarch
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State has berated Governor Ayodele Fayose over alleged humiliation and disrespectful conduct to the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe Aladesanmi, over the monarch’s complaint on house demolition that has rendered hundreds of people homeless in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
Fayose had ordered demolition of several houses to give way to road construction and New Oja Oba Market in the state capital with many residents losing their homes and personal effects to demolition without notice and compensation.
The victims stormed the palace complaining about their plights without prior notice and compensation talk with the governor, which forced the monarch to seek audience with the governor during which Fayose talked to the monarch in disrespectful manner.
In a statement in Ado-Ekiti, APC Publicity, Taiwo Olatunbosun, berated Fayose for his alleged “uncouth language” in addressing the frontline monarch, noting that this was not the first time that the governor would treat traditional rulers in manner that does not befit their office.
Listing instances where the governor publicly assaulted monarchs, Olatunbosun said:
“Fayose had during his first term assaulted this same Ewi of Ado-Ekiti publicly when he asked the monarch to hang his crown to mount soapbox to campaign for Ekiti governorship election simply because the monarch did not support his anti-people policies and his reckless attacks on eminent Ekiti indigenes,
He added that the governor’s disrespectful conduct to Ekiti monarchs contributed to the fall of his administration in 2006.
Faulting Fayose for demolishing the homes of Ado-Ekiti residents without prior notice while paying pittance to victims of demolition, Olatunbosun said the governor was insincere in his assertion that house demolition had become imperative to make Ado-Ekiti a befitting state capital.
He explained: “All the grandstanding and rhetoric that the demolition is necessary to give Ado-Ekiti a facelift as the state capital is a fluke.
“The truth is that house demolition is a viable business opportunity for the governor after facts have emerged that those that Fayose had so far paid for losing their homes got a small fraction of the figures that the governor quoted for compensation from the Federal Government as refund on flyover project.
“For instance, reports have indicated that Fayose allegedly put the compensation responsibility on the contractors of flyover project who are his friends from Ibadan to pay the victims for losing their homes, whereas the money received by victims is just a small fraction of what was allegedly computed by the contractors to the Federal Government for reinbursement.
“Ekiti people need to ask themselves whether it is political wise for a politician like Fayose to be demolishing the homes of voters in election year without prior notice and satisfactory compensation plan.
“Like Fayose threatened while harassing the monarch in his palace, he will continue to demolish more houses because that is a good business for him to make money as he prepares to serve out his term on October 16, 2018.”
He warned the governor to stop desecrating the palace, noting that royal fathers represented the spiritual authority of the people in their communities for peace and development.