An FCT High Court in Maitama has dismissed an application by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, seeking an indefinite adjournment of his case before the court.
Dasuki had asked the court for adjournment sine die (indefinite) pending when the judgement of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of a Federal High Court in Abuja on July 2, 2018 ordering his release is complied with by the government.
Ruling on the application today, a two-member panel of the FCT High Court’s declogging panel held that the application was an abuse of court processes.
Reading the ruling of the panel, Justice Valentine Ashi held that the three respondents in the case before Justice Ojukwu were not parties to the case before the FCT high court.
He further held that Justice Ojukwu is empowered by law to enforce her judgement and nothing shows that such application has been made before her.
The judge held that this type of application (for adjournment sine die) had earlier been made by Dasuki and was dismissed by the court and that the dismissal was upheld when the appeal went up to the Supreme Court.
“This application is nothing but gross abuse of process and cannot be allowed to stand, it is hereby dismissed,” Justice Ashi held.
This ruling was delivered in the case where Dasuki was arraigned along with former Minister of Finance (State), Bashir Yuguda, former Sokoto State governor, Attahiru Bafarawa and son, Sagir Bafarawa, and a firm, Dalhatu Investment Limited on a 25-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N19.4billion.
The case was thereafter adjourned to April 2, 3 & 4 for definite hearing.
In the other case where Dasuki was charged with a former NNPC Executive Director, Aminu Baba-Kusa and two firms – Acacia Holdings and Reliance Referral Hospital, the chairman of the panel, Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf said based on earlier agreement with all parties, the decision reached in the first case will be equally binding in the second case.
Dasuki had equally filed the application for adjournment sine die in this second case.
Justice Baba-Yusuf thus held that based on earlier agreement, this application is equally dismissed.
The case was thereafter adjourned to April 16, 17 & 18 for definite hearing.
