Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal Excessive Court docket in Abuja has directed the {Economic} and {Financial} Crimes Fee (EFCC) to conclude, inside three days, the long-running corruption trial towards former Nationwide Safety Adviser, Mohammed Sambo Dasuki.
The court docket scheduled July 7, 8, and 9, 2025, for the anti-graft company to wrap up its prosecution within the case, which has lingered since 2015.
This directive adopted the restart of the trial in Justice Lifu’s court docket. Through the proceedings, EFCC counsel Oladipupo Okpeseyi and Dasuki’s lawyer, A.A. Usman, debated the admissibility of a subpoena issued on Might 24, 2018, to the Division of State Providers (DSS). The subpoena requested the DSS to current sure objects recovered from Dasuki’s properties.
Dasuki’s counsel challenged the subpoena, arguing that the DSS, as named within the doc, doesn’t legally exist in Nigerian legislation. The EFCC, nevertheless, countered that the DSS is a statutory physique and that there was no ambiguity relating to its id.
“The doc was served on the Division of State Safety, which had no confusion about its id or the court docket’s invitation,” Okpeseyi argued. “Objections on technical grounds mustn’t impede the course of justice.”
Justice Lifu overruled the objection and admitted the subpoena as proof, stating that the ultimate ruling on its admissibility could be included into the judgment.
He emphasised that the case, now a decade previous, should transfer ahead in accordance with the Administration of Felony Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, which promotes speedy trials.
Through the listening to, the primary prosecution witness, DSS exhibit keeper Monsur Mohammed, offered a number of objects retrieved from Dasuki’s properties in Abuja and Sokoto primarily based on 4 search warrants executed in July 2015. Nevertheless, he confirmed that not one of the objects had been incriminating.
Justice Lifu then adjourned the matter to July 7–9, 2025, stressing that the prosecution should shut its case inside these dates.