Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), has called on the Federal Government to comply with the order of the Federal High Court granting him bail, else he would not be ready to proceed with the trial.
The former NSA was referring to the bail granted him in November 2015 by Justice Adeniyi Ademola.
Despite the bail, the Department of State Services (DSS) had an kept him in custody.
Dasuki informed the court of his unwillingness to continue with the trial on Tuesday when Dipo Okpeseyi (SAN), counsel to the DSS announced to the court that the prosecution was ready for trial to commence.
In response, Counsel to Dasuki, Joseph Daodu said that the defence counsel was not ready to proceed with the trial because the federal government was still keeping the accused person in detention despite an order of the court granting him bail.
“We cannot be ready for trial until the defendant enjoys his constitutional rights,” Daodu said.
“We apply that we should be given time to prepare the defence. The conduct of the prosecution has not enabled him to enjoy his constitutional rights.
“The worst is that for about seven weeks we do not know where he is. Any of us here who proceeds to defend an accused person in this circumstance may lose his license of practice.”
But Okpeseyi argued that the prosecution was not stopping Dasuki from enjoying his freedom.
He said that the charges for which the accused person was being held was not the one before the court.
He prayed the court to reject the request for adjournment and to commence trial.
However the court adjourned to March 3 for hearing of a motion to discharge Dasuki.
The former NSA is facing four charges of money laundering and illegal possession of firearms brought against him by the DSS.
Dasuki is also facing multiple counts of laundering money at the federal capital territory (FCT) high court, Abuja.
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