Abuja Federal High Court on Tuesday dismissed an application by the Department of State Services (DSS) to re-present rejected exhibits in the course of the trial of a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), for alleged illegal possession of firearms.
In delivering his verdict, Justice Peter Lifu clarified the court was not in a position to reopen or accept the same evidence it had previously described as inadmissible, deeming the DSS’s request an invitation to “judicial rascality and pettiness.”
“I recall that on July 10, 2025, I dismissed these very same exhibits on the grounds of failure of foundation and relevancy. That decision stands and I am estopped from doing so,” the judge replied. “Such an attempt to overreach and disregard that ruling will amount to judicial rascality and pettiness. This court declines the invitation and dismisses the application.
The contested exhibits, marked as items 18 to 28 on a 2015 search warrant, were recovered from Dasuki’s Abuja residence during a DSS raid.
At the last hearing, lead counsel for DSS, Oladipupo Okpeseyi (SAN), asked the court to look at cars that are said to have been seized from Dasuki and re-tender them after what he called “laying proper foundation” to accept them. He argued that the former rejection was not driven by irrelevance but procedural lapses.
But the counsel for Dasuki, A. A. Usman, objected to the motion, describing it as “strange and unknown to law.” He argued that once an exhibit is rejected by a court, the same judge cannot re-admit it.
“The only legal avenue available to the DSS was to appeal the verdict, not invite the same judge to determine in a supposed appeal court over his decision,” Usman had stated, praying that the application be dismissed as “baseless and unwarranted.”
In his final ruling, Justice Lifu upheld the defence position and reiterated that the denied exhibits remain inadmissible.
“The exhibits are again rejected,” ruled the judge, repeating that the court would not reverse established facts for any price.
