I’ll avoid trial until Nigerian govt obeys my bail rulings, Dasuki tells court

A former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, on
Tuesday wrote the court informing it of his resolve to avoid court
hearing until the prosecution obeys the court’s ruling on his
bail.

Mr Dasuki is facing trial at an Abuja Division of the Federal
High Court for alleged illegal possession of firearms among other
charges.

The former NSA, who is facing separate trials for alleged abuse
of office while he was NSA, has repeatedly been granted bail by
various courts which were not obeyed by the Nigerian government
despite him meeting the bail conditions.

In a letter dated November 12 and signed by Mr Dasuki, the
former NSA asked the court to: “absolve him of any obligation of
appearing at his trial, since the office of the State Security
Service, an agent of government detaining him has also refused to
respect the various court order for his bail.”

In a response, the prosecution counsel, Dipo Okpeseyi asked the
court to order the continuation of Mr Dasuki’s trial in
absentia.

Mr Okpeseyi argued that the cases for which Mr Dasuki has been
denied bail are independent of the instant case and described the
defendant’s action as an affront to the court.

Mr Okpeseyi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the prosecution
was ready to proceed with the trial, but by his action, “Mr Dasuki
has again forestalled the day’s hearing session.”

“This is not the first time. He did it in January and in April,”
Mr Okpeseyi said.

In a short ruling, Mr Mohammed said the court will not grant the
request by the prosecution to proceed with Mr Dasuki’s trial in
absentia, unless the prosecution depose to an affidavit accusing
the defence of wilfully avoiding the court.

According to the judge, the court had in its previous decision
on April 10 settled the issue of Mr Dasuki’s alleged refusal to
attend court hearing.

“Let me observe that this court has in its ruling of April, 10,
2018 noted that any day that the defendant is absence in court and
the prosecution believes that the defendant is unwilling to attend
trial, the prosecution should swear an affidavit to show that the
defendant has wilfully refused to come to court,” Mr Mohammed
ruled.

The judge further said the decision requested by the prosecution
can only follow the applicant’s compliance with the ruling of the
court on April 10.

Mr Ahmed also refused to treat the request made by Mr Dasuki in
his letter and ordered the defence to properly communicate the
court, for the letter to be included in its record.

Mr Ahmed said the court is a court of record which does not
accept direct communication from parties.

The court adjourned the matter to November 19 for the
prosecution to comply with the orders of the court on April 10, for
a proper application for Mr Dasuki’s trial in absentia.