The N4.6 billion arms procurement fraud trial of former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki and his co-defendants stalled on Tuesday at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja due to the absence of a prosecution witness.
Mr Dasuki is standing trial in the 10-year-old case alongside former Sokoto State Governor Attahiru Bafarawa, his son Sagir Bafarawa, former Minister of State for Finance Bashir Yuguda, and Dalhatu Investment Limited.
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Prosecution lawyer Rotimi Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the judge that the second prosecution witness, Kazeem Yusuf, an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator, was unavailable due to bereavement.
Reflecting on the prolonged time the case has taken in court, the trial judge, Halilu Yusuf, said, “This is one case that we all agree has to be disposed of.”
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Mr Jacobs, who regretted the further delay caused by the absence of the witness, said he was recently informed of the witness’ bereavement by his boss.
He said he had made efforts to contact the witness directly to no avail.
The prosecutor then applied for an adjournment of the case following the absence of the witness.
The defence lawyers did not object to the application for adjournment.
Mr Yuguda’s lawyer, A. O. Ayodele, told the court that they were “intimated” about the circumstances surrounding the witness unavailability.
The judge then adjourned the case until 28 January 2026 for the cross-examination of the second prosecution witness.
Mr Dasuki and his co-defendants are facing 25 counts of misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and receiving stolen property.
The charges accused them of diverting N4.6 billion from the NSA office’s account. The money was said to be meant for procurement of arms to firm up the offensive against Boko Haram terrorists during former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, between 2014 and 2015.
They all pleaded not guilty.
What the prosecution has said so far
The first prosecution witness, Hamza Abdullahi, who served as the second-in-command of the EFCC’s Special Task Force that investigated the alleged arms procurement fraud in the NSA office, had testified that N4.633 billion was traced to Dalhatu Investment Limited. He said Mr Sagir, the son of the former Sokoto governor, is the company’s sole account signatory.
The second prosecution witness, Mr Yusuf, had also testified that funds were released from the NSA office for supply of security equipment but that the contracts were not executed.
He said, during investigation, Mr Sagir brought a list showing how the funds were used.
The witness said the funds were used to sponsor pilgrimage to Mecca and partly used for the 2015 political campaigns of the then-ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He listed the recipients of the funds to include Sheikh AbdurRahman Al-Sudais Foundation (N500 million), belonging to former Governor Bafarawa, and 2015 Sokoto PDP governorship candidate, Abdallah Wali, who allegedly received N580 million through a company.
The case is one of the twin arms procurement fraud matters filed against Mr Dasuki and his co-defendants over the streams of funds he released from NSA office’s accounts between 2014 and 2015.
In the trial, EFCC prosecution Mr Dasuki, a retired colonel, alongside a former General Manager at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa; Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited on 32 counts of fraud involving diversion of 33.2 billion arms funds entrusted to the NSA office.
In March, the EFCC re-arraigned the defendants on criminal breach of trust, among other charges, following the reassignment of the case that started in 2015 to a new judge, Charles Agbaza.
The defendants denied all charges as they did when they were first arraigned in 2015.
These trials suffered multiple adjournments in their early years, largely due to the State Security Services (SSS) refusing to release Mr Dasuki on bail despite multiple court orders.
The cases are part of Nigeria’s longest-running high-profile corruption trials, reflecting systemic delays in the country’s judicial system.
Mr Dasuki served as NSA between 2012 and 2015, at the height of Boko Haram attacks in Nigeria’s North-east, during the administration of then-President Goodluck Jonathan.
An audit panel set up by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to office after defeating Mr Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, revealed that about $2 billion entrusted in the office of the NSA, then led by Mr Dasuki, for procurement of arms could not be accounted for.
The EFCC, which instituted multiple charges against diverse persons who received funds from the NSA office, alleged that the arms funds were doled out to friends, relatives, political allies, particularly members of the PDP for purposes unrelated to the purchase of arms.
