For some time now, the former National Security Adviser (NSA) in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, Sambo Dasuki, has been in the news for the wrong reasons.
Dasuki was sacked as NSA on July 13 by President Muhammadu Buhari after three years in office, having been appointed on June 22, 2012 by Jonathan.
What Nigerians and the outside world are being fed with today is information that portrays Dasuki as a common criminal, a corrupt man with itchy fingers and unquenchable appetite for power.
Based on that, the government has marked Dasuki out for prosecution.
But it seems that rather than prosecution, government is prosecuting Dasuki on charges of treason and felony, among other charges that are hanging precariously on his neck the way diamond ring hangs and dangles on the neck of some former female aides of Jonathan.
The journey to what many perceive as Dasuki’s prosecution or persecution started on the night of July 16 this year when the Directorate of State Service (DSS) arrested him at his private residence in the Asokoro area of Abuja.
DSS operatives reportedly stormed the home at about 6:40pm, laid siege, and insisted on seeing him.
As is normal with people of Dasuki’s ranking in security circles, those guarding his residence prevented the officers from gaining entry into the premises, which made the officers to threaten to force their way in.
While the Abuja drama was on, a similar scenario was being acted out in Sokoto, at the home of Dansuki’s father, Ibrahim Dasuki, a former Sultan of Sokoto, where DSS operatives also reportedly stormed the home in search of the retired colonel, his alleged loot, and cache of arms.
The officers reportedly locked in all occupants of the home, refused others entry, and frantically searched everywhere, including a large container that had been in the compound for many years.
Before daybreak on July 16, Dasuki was whisked away from his Abuja home to one of the DSS offices in town for interrogation.
After being quizzed, he was asked to go but was later charged on one count of illegal possession of lethal arms.
A statement issued by the DSS, signed by Tony Opuiyo, said after searching Dasuki’s houses on July 16, its men discovered large caches of arms and ammunition which necessitated his being charged to court.
Opuiyo said the search was based on credible intelligence which linked Dasuki to acts capable of undermining national security.
Of course, it was in public domain that Dasuki was allegedly a principal character in reports of a planned probe of the defence budget and other alleged abuses of office by service chiefs relieved of their duties by Buhari.
Opuiyo said the crime is punishable under Section 27(i) (a)(i) of the Firearms Act, and “this is in line with democratic practice and our avowed commitment to the rule of law.”
Dasuki was admitted to bail on self-recognition on arraignment, but that did not stop the authorities from barring him from medical checks outside the country and from seizing his passport.
But a curious twist had been added to Dasuki’s so-called prosecution at the Federal High Court which resumed on October 26 and 27, with his “prosecutors” varying the charges to include four more.
The number of charges had not only increased from one to five but the government had applied to the court for a secret trial of Dasuki.
As if government is determined to nail Dasuki willy-nilly over accusation of money laundering, it filed fresh charges against him to include alleged retention of funds which formed part of the proceeds of a crime that violated Section 15 (2) (d) of Money Laundering Prohibition Act.
The fresh charges are that Dasuki was on July 17, 2015 at his house, No. 13, John Khadiya Street, Asokoro, Abuja, found in possession of various range of firearms without requisite licence, an offence punishable under section 27 (1)(a) of the Firearms Act.
Dasuki was accused of retaining $40,000, N5 million and another $20,000 in the same house and same date contrary to Section 15 (2)(d) of Money Laundering Prohibition Act.
He was said to have on July 16, 2015 at his residence at Sultan Abubakar Road and Sabon Birni Road, Sokoto retained another $150,000 and N37.6 million being part of proceedings of unlawful act contrary to Section 15 (3) of the Money Laundering Act.
That Shuaibu Labaran, the government prosecutor, brought in a motion on notice before Justice Ademola Adeniyi seeking his court to grant a secret trial of Dasuki based on the security of witnesses billed to testify against him is as funny as it looks strange in a country whose democracy is more than 16 years old.
There is no other way to ask the court to do away with that piece of ill-conceived application than the way Dasuki’s counsel, Joseph Dauda (SAN) dismissed it as mere academic exercise.
Even academic exercises are anchored on good intentions and for genuine purposes.
Did Labaran forget easily that the names and addresses of the witnesses he was trying to protect had already been made public in an earlier affidavit?
What would the prosecutor tell his colleagues outside Nigeria that made him call for a secret trial of Dasuki in a democracy to the extent that he would want his witnesses to wear masks?
Not even the late former President Nnamdi Azikiwe in his book, Democracy with Military Vigilance, would have advocated such contraption of a trial of a civilian in a military regime, particularly in a society where there was no report of coup plot that makes one complicit.
Pray, Labaran would have craved for prosecution witnesses from the Mars since they are not supposed to be seen, identified and could not have walked on the same route that mere Nigerian mortals are meant to walk through.
Whatever reasons Ademola has for not giving his ruling on the application on Wednesday, October 28 as proposed, the point must be made that whenever he decides to do so, he should treat it as frivolous and incapable of projecting Nigeria’s judiciary in good light, both within and outside our shores.
Nobody is against Buhari’s government prosecuting people in a competent court based on infractions traced to them.
The truth is that more than any other time in this country, Nigerians are united today on genuine fight against acts by Nigerians of any hew who have brought our country to this sorry past.
It does not matter whether Dasuki is involved or any other Nigerian. However, Nigerians would also be concerned if Buhari’s administration is revelling on old animosities in its bid to fight graft or other negative tendencies that have damaged the image and integrity of the country.
The question people are asking regarding proposal to try Dasuki secretly on allegations of treason, illegal possession of firearms, corruption and abuse of power, is whether Buhari is still weighed down by old hate tendencies.
Is he still encased in the belly of the past? Is it not high time the president forgot vendetta and squarely face governance given the enormity of challenges that require his attention?