Former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki, (rtd.)
- Fail to get bail
Former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki, (rtd.) and five others have pleaded not guilty to allegations of diversion, misappropriation and breach of trust in respect of N19. 4 billion criminal charges brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The six accused persons, according to the EFCC, diverted the said amount for personal and private purposes in the guise of payment for supply of security equipment.
The accused, including former minister for state for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, former Sokoto governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, Shuaibu Salisu and two others, however denied any culpability when the 22-count charges were read to them before Justice Peter Affem of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High court on Tuesday in Abuja.
Following their plea of not guilty, the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, then requested for an adjournment till next year to enable him present his witnesses.
Reacting, counsel to Dasuki Ahmed Raji, SAN, however, raised the issue of application for bail, disclosing that application for bail has been filed and served on the prosecution.
Justice Affem then adjourned hearing on the bail application for this Wednesday and ordered that the accused persons be remanded in the custody of the EFCC pending the determination of the case.
In a similar case against the accused brought before Justice Usen Baba Yusuf, the judge fixed ruling on bail application for December 18, 2015, and asked counsel to produce witnesses in the case as accelerated hearing would be given the case immediately after ruling on the bail application.
Earlier, counsel to the accused had applied for bail for their clients. They said that the accused persons would not jump bail if granted.
Ahmed Raji, SAN, counsel to Dasuki, while stating that an accused person should be presumed innocent until his guilt had been proven said that the offences the accused was alleged to have committed was a bail-able one as such the court should grant the request.
He urged the judge to toe the steps of a federal high court judge that had earlier granted bail to his client, adding that Dasuki was a law-abiding person. He further stated that the crimes his client was alleged to have committed were finance-related and the law did not mandate imprisonment for all offenders of financial crimes.
Culled from Thisday
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