The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has re-arraigned former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd), and a former General Manager of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa, alongside two companies, Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited, at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
This fresh arraignment follows the reassignment of the case by the FCT Chief Judge, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, after his elevation. The case will now be heard by Justice Charles Agbaza, requiring the proceedings to start afresh.
Dasuki, who served in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was initially arraigned on December 14, 2015, before Justice Baba-Yusuf on a 19-count charge of money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving ₦13.5 billion.
The EFCC later amended the charges, removing one defendant, Shuaibu Salisu, and re-arraigned the remaining accused on May 11, 2018, with an expanded 32-count charge linked to the alleged misappropriation of ₦33.2 billion meant for arms procurement to fight Boko Haram insurgents.
Despite years of legal proceedings, the case stalled, with the prosecution presenting only one witness before it was indefinitely adjourned.
Dasuki’s prolonged detention by the Department of State Services (DSS), despite multiple court orders granting him bail, further delayed the trial.
The EFCC had also filed a separate case against Dasuki, involving former Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, and former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, among others, over an alleged ₦19.4 billion fraud. That case is ongoing before Justice Yusuf Halilu.
With Justice Baba-Yusuf now handling expanded duties as Chief Judge, the case was reassigned, and the EFCC is expected to push for a swift trial.
