Dasuki's plea for an indefinite adjournment of his corruption trial in court has been thrown out by the presiding judge.
Sambo Dasuki
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a motion by embattled National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), seeking an order to suspend and adjourn indefinitely his trial.
Dasuki is currently standing trial of illegal possession of firearms and money laundering while in office.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Justice Ahmed Mohammed asserted that Dasuki’s application was misconceived and lacked merit.
Dasuki’s counsel, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), had, at the hearing of his client’s motion on October 17, prayed the court to adjourn the trial indefinitely pending the hearing and determination of the ex-NSA’s motion for stay of proceedings filed before the Court of Appeal, Abuja.
Raji stressed that his client’s motion was not seeking an order of stay of proceedings, which had been barred by Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, but added that the application was filed under the provision of Section 305 of the ACJA, which, he argued, allowed the court to adjourn a trial after a constitutional question arising from the trial had been referred to a higher court for determination.
Opposing the application, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN), described the application as “an abuse of court process.”
Mohammed consequently dismissed the suit for lack of merit.