The Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday heard that the weapons found in the Asokoro residence of the former National Security Adviser, Colonel Muhammadu Sambo Dasuki retired barely 48 hours after he left Office in 2015 belong to the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.
The weapons were said to be for the use of the Security Details attached to him as the National Security Adviser, NSA, for protection purposes. These were contained in Dasuki’s statement made to the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) tendered and admitted as exhibit by Justice Adeniyi Ademola in the ongoing trial of Dasuki on charges of unlawful possession of arms.
A prosecution witness, Mr. Samuel Ogbu, who is an operative of DSS, indicated this when he was asked to read in the open court the statement made by Dasuki during his interrogation by DSS before he was charged to court.
Under cross-examination by counsel to Dasuki, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), the witness said Dasuki in his statement confirmed that the weapons were for the ONSA and for the protection of the NSA. The witness also said Dasuki claimed in his written statement that the weapons were to be returned to the ONSA by the security details at the end of the day.
Ogbu who was asked by Dasuki’s lawyer to read a portion of the statement of the defendant to the open court, admitted that Dasuki in the first paragraph of his statement, made it clear that the weapons belong to the ONSA and not his personal belonging. Further hearing is expected to continue.
Meanwhile, at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice sitting in Abuja, the former National Security Adviser insisted that the federal government had no legal or moral justification for his continued incarceration. Speaking through his counsel, Robert Emukperuo on Wednesday while making his final address predicated his stance on Sections 293-296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015. which outlined the procedure for keeping a suspect in detention for not more than two weeks.
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Telling us that the weapons were to be returned to the ONSA is an after thought. Is there any documented evidence to prove his claim? How many arms and ammunition did they need to protect him alone? This is simply a case of impunity and abuse of office and trust expected of his office. The federal govt has the right to detain indefinitely anyone it suspects may jump bail by escaping to other countries where it will become difficult to repatriate such persons. Examples abound of those who have done it; they run away and lie to the immigration of those countries just to get assylum and hide there until there is a change in govt.