The defence in the ongoing trial of a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, on Tuesday urged the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to order the arrest of the Director-General of the Department of State Service, Mr. Lawal Daura, for failing to produce the detained former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, in court.
Justice Okon Abang had on October 25 directed Dasuki and former President Goodluck Jonathan to appear in court on Tuesday in respect of the trial of Metuh. While Dauski was not produced in court on Tuesday, Jonathan’s lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), appeared in court to challenge the subpoena issued on the former President.
Ozekhome noted that Jonathan had yet to be served but only read about the subpoena in the newspapers.
Justice Abang had on October 25 given the court bailiff five days to effect personal service of the subpoena on Jonathan and also directed the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, to persuade the management of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to liaise with the DSS to produce Dasuki in court on Tuesday (today).
On his part, Tahir said the DSS’ Legal Adviser informed him that Dasuki refused to be brought to court on the advice of his (Dasuki’s) counsel.
He said, “In addition to that, I personally liaised with the Legal Adviser of the DSS on the need for the organisation to comply with the court order.
He argued that the DSS’ conduct by failing to produce Dasuki in court was an act of disrespect for the court.
He thereby urged the court “to apply the consequences provided by the law.”
He said, “I say so because, whenever Sambo Dasuki wants to go to court on his own, it is the duty of the DSS to take him to court and if they don’t want to take him to court, they will decide not to take him to court.
In his contribution, Dasuki’s lawyer, Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN), described Tahir’s submission as “damning and incriminating hearsay” which should be expunged from the court’s record.
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