The corruption trial of Nigeria’s former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retired), has been postponed once more after a technical error over the prosecution’s witness list forced proceedings to halt in Abuja on Tuesday.
Dasuki, once one of the most powerful figures in Nigeria’s security establishment, is accused of orchestrating the diversion of ₦33.2 billion (£21.2m) from state funds while in office. He faces charges of criminal breach of trust and money laundering, alongside former NNPC executive Aminu Baba-Kusa and two companies, Acacia Holdings and Reliance Referral Hospital.
Prosecutors allege that Dasuki authorised the release of ₦10 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to finance the 2014 presidential primaries of the then-governing People’s Democratic Party (PDP). All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
At the resumed hearing, EFCC investigator Adariku Michael testified that he was part of a special taskforce that began probing suspicious financial transfers in September 2015. He claimed vast sums were funnelled from the Office of the National Security Adviser into company accounts over a seven-month period.
But defence lawyer Solomon Umoh SAN objected, arguing that Michael’s name did not appear on the prosecution’s official list of witnesses, breaching Section 379 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
EFCC counsel Oluwaleke Atolagbe admitted the lapse but said the witness had already given evidence in earlier stages of the case, urging the court to grant time to correct the omission.
Presiding judge Justice Charles Agbaza adjourned the matter until 31 October to enable the anti-graft agency to regularise its filings.
The Dasuki trial, which has dragged on for nearly a decade, remains one of Nigeria’s most high-profile corruption cases, emblematic of the challenges facing the country’s justice system in prosecuting politically connected figures.
