The Federal Government, through its lawyer, Mr. Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN), has condemned the criticism of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, by the counsel for the immediate past National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
Dasuki is being prosecuted before the judge by the Federal Government on charges of money laundering and illegal possession of firearms.
The ex-NSA’s lead counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), had, in a May 19, 2016 letter to Justice Ademola, criticised the judge’s decision directing the commencement of Dasuki’s trial.
Justice Ademola had earlier, on May 18, refused the oral application by another SAN in Dasuki’s legal team, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), asking for a stay of proceedings in the case pending the hearing and the determination of a similar motion, which the defence team filed before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
The judge, in refusing Raji’s application, noted that the motion was not before his court, adding that the provision of Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, had prohibited granting of stay of proceedings in criminal cases.
The following day, Daudu sent a letter to the judge criticising the judge’s decision and asking for an adjournment in the case.
Part of Daudu’s letter criticising the judge’s ruling read, “My lord, right or access to courts in Nigeria is reserved by Section 6 of the Constitution to all persons including government; none has a greater stake in justice than the other.
“A situation whereby it would appear to a reasonable man or a judge in the Clapham Omnibus that one party has a superior stake in the justice of a case and that the other party is merely desirous of delaying proceedings must be corrected at the earliest opportunity.
“After all, the prosecution in this case, are the ones that have flouted three positive orders of this honourable court and it is startling that the court is now putting pressure on the party that is incarcerated unlawfully by the state and giving access to the disobedient party.
“My lord, we are within our right to approach the Court of Appeal to hear the pending application before it and nothing must be done to stultify our right to approach any court in Nigeria.”
In his reaction to the letter, the lead prosecuting counsel, Okpeseyi, distanced himself from Daudu’s letter.
He said, “We dissociate ourselves from the content of the letter, particularly paragraphs three and four, which we believe, are not complementary and ought not to have been written.
“We are willing to concede to their request for adjournment, although we do not think it was necessary since the team is led by a Senior Advocate, in the person of Ahmed Raji.”
The trial was adjourned till June 8.
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