The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an application filed by the Department of State Services seeking to re-present exhibits earlier rejected in the trial of former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd), over alleged unlawful possession of firearms.
Justice Peter Lifu, delivering the ruling on Tuesday, held that the same exhibits previously marked as rejected could not be re-admitted, describing the DSS’ motion as an “invitation to judicial rascality.”
“The same exhibits remain rejected, having been found inadmissible for lack of relevance and proper foundation,” Justice Lifu said.
“Any attempt to go against that ruling will amount to judicial rascality and pettiness. Common sense does not even support granting this kind of request.”
The DSS, through its lead counsel, Oladipupo Okpeseyi (SAN), had filed the motion asking the court to allow the inspection of vehicles allegedly recovered from Dasuki’s residence during a 2015 search operation.
He explained that the vehicles, which had been kept at the DSS headquarters in Abuja for a decade, were among items numbered 18 to 28 on the executed search warrant.
Okpeseyi argued that the exhibits were initially rejected because “a proper foundation for their admission had not been laid,” stressing that the prosecution had now corrected the procedural defects. “The rejection was not based on irrelevance to the trial,” he maintained.
However, Dasuki’s counsel, A. A. Usman, opposed the motion, describing it as “strange, baseless, and unknown to law.” He reminded the court that Justice Lifu had, in a ruling delivered on July 10, 2025, already declared the exhibits irrelevant to the charge and inadmissible.
“Once an exhibit has been rejected and marked as such, it stands rejected and cannot be re-admitted by the same court,” Usman argued. “The only lawful step available to the prosecution is to appeal the earlier ruling, not to invite the same judge to review his own decision.”
In reaffirming his earlier decision, Justice Lifu stated that the court would not be drawn into revisiting matters already settled. “This court rejects the invitation, and the request is hereby dismissed,” he ruled.
The trial of the former National Security Adviser, who served under the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, has been ongoing since his arrest in 2015 on allegations of unlawful possession of firearms and diversion of funds meant for arms procurement.
