Court rejects DSS attempt to re-admit exhibits against Dasuki

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an application by the Department of State Services (DSS) seeking to re-present exhibits earlier rejected in the trial of former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), over alleged unlawful possession of firearms.

Justice Peter Lifu, in his ruling on Tuesday, held that the court could not admit the same exhibits it had previously declared inadmissible, describing the DSS’s renewed bid as “an invitation to judicial rascality and pettiness.”

The DSS, through its lead counsel Oladipupo Okpeseyi (SAN), had asked the court to revisit exhibits marked items 18 to 28 on a search warrant executed at Dasuki’s Abuja residence in 2015. Okpeseyi argued that the items vehicles allegedly recovered from the former NSA’s home and kept at the DSS headquarters for a decade should be inspected by the court to facilitate their admission as evidence.

However, Dasuki’s counsel, A. A. Usman, opposed the motion, describing it as “strange and unknown to law.” He maintained that once an exhibit is rejected and marked as such, “it stands rejected and cannot be re-admitted by the same court.”

Justice Lifu agreed, recalling his earlier ruling of July 10, 2025, which had found the exhibits inadmissible for lack of relevance and proper foundation.

“That ruling still subsists, and I am bound by it. Any attempt to revisit the issue amounts to judicial rascality. Common sense does not even support granting this kind of request,” the judge stated.

The court consequently dismissed the DSS application in its entirety.