The trial of former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki was stalled on Tuesday as officials of the Department State Services, DSS, failed to produce him in court.
Dasuki, alongside two others, is facing a 19-count charge of fraud brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
They were alleged to have diverted the sum of N13.6 billion belonging to the federal government.
The two other accused persons include former director of finance at the office of the NSA, Shuaibu Salisu, and former executive director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Aminu Baba-Kusa.
Their trial at a Federal Capital Territory High Court was scheduled to continue on Tuesday but had to be adjourned till Wednesday to enable the first accused person to attend the proceedings.
Having waited for Dasuki to arrive, counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs, asked the court to stand down proceedings for an hour to allow him get in touch with the DSS and confirm why the first defendant is not in court.
But counsel to the second defendant, Akin Olujimi, asked the court to adjourn till Wednesday so that they could attend to other matters, since the court had originally fixed the case for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dasuki’s lawyer did not oppose the application for adjournment, and the presiding judge, Hussein Baba-Yusuf, subsequently adjourned the case till Wednesday.
It would be recalled that Dasuki had been granted bails by four different judges in the last two years but has remained in the custody of DSS without detention warrant and in disobedient to the court orders on bail.
Dasuki was granted bail by Justices Adeniyi Ademola and Ahmed Rahmat Mohhamed of the federal high court Abuja in the charges of unlawful possession of firearms brought against him but the bails were not obeyed by the government.
He was also granted bail by Justices Peter Affen and Hussein Baba-Yusuf, of two FCT high courts in charges of money laundering. The orders were again not acted upon by the DSS.
The ECOWAS Court had also in a judgement ordered the Federal Government last year to immediately release Dasuki from the unlawful custody and imposed a fine of N15 million on the government but up to now the judgement had not being obeyed.
However the two other persons charged alongside the former NSA have since been enjoying their bails. They were in court on Tuesday but left immediately the hearing was adjourned.
This is fourth time the inability of the federal government to produce Dasuki would necessitate the trial to be adjourned.