Dasuki Goes After Buhari, Says President Behind His Travails

BEVERLY HILLS, February 26, (THEWILL) – Sambo Dasuki, former National Security Adviser, on Friday, told a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court, Abuja that President Muhammadu Buhari was responsible for his unlawful arrest and detention without trial since December 29, 2015.

The embattled retired colonel claimed that the president instigated his detention unjustly against the bail granted him by three different courts through his comments during the presidential media chat in December 2015.

Speaking through his counsel, Joseph Daodu (SAN), in an affidavit filed in support of his application at the court, he added that the president exposed his intentions when he openly told Nigerians that he (Dasuki) and Nnamdi Kanu could not be allowed bail because they would jump it.

He therefore prayed Justice Peter Affen to prohibit his trial until the federal government purged itself of the contempt of court which prevented him from filing effective defence because of his continued detention by Department of State Services (DSS) without having access to his lawyers claiming he had been held incommunicado since his re-arrest.

Exhibiting several newspaper cuttings in support of his motion to stop his trial, Daodu urged Justice Affen to enforce his order granting bail to Dasuki adding that the claim that Dasuki was being held by the DSS and not the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could not hold water because the federal government was the complainant in the charge against his client and that both the DSS and EFCC were agents of the federal government.

In his response, the counsel to the federal government, Rotimi Jacob, informed Justice Affen that the charge against Dasuki was at the instance of the EFCC and not the DSS.

He denied that the federal government disobeyed the court, saying that Dasuki was released by the prison authorities at Kuje, on December 29, 2015 when the bail conditions were perfected, but was however re-arrested by another government agency.

He asked the court to dismiss Dasuki's application because the DSS, which rearrested him, was not a party to the charges against him before Justice Affen, who granted him the bail adding that the newspaper publications were not tenable before the court because they had not been certified as required by law.

Justice Affen fixed March 4 to give his ruling on the application.

Story by David Oputah