The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, sitting in Maitama, Abuja, has rejected seven extrajudicial statements obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from Aminu Baba-Kusa, the second defendant in the alleged ₦33.2 billion arms fraud trial involving former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd.), and three others.
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Justice Charles Agbaza, in a ruling delivered on Friday following a trial-within-trial, held that the EFCC failed to establish that the statements were obtained in compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
The court specifically found that the anti-graft agency failed to comply with Sections 16(4) and 17(2) of the ACJA concerning the presence of a legal practitioner and the audio-visual recording of the statement-taking process.
Justice Agbaza held that the prosecution did not present credible evidence during the trial-within-trial to demonstrate that the seven statements it sought to tender were obtained in accordance with the law.
The judge particularly noted that the EFCC failed to video-record the process through which Baba-Kusa’s statements were obtained.
According to the court, audio-visual recording is intended to enable a trial judge to examine the circumstances surrounding the taking of a defendant’s statement and determine whether it was made voluntarily.
The ruling arose after Baba-Kusa’s counsel, Solomon Umoh, SAN, objected to the admissibility of the statements when prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, sought to tender them through the prosecution’s first witness, Michael Adariku, an EFCC operative.
The objection prompted the court in January to order a trial-within-trial to determine the circumstances under which the statements were obtained and whether they were voluntarily made.
Following the conclusion of the separate proceedings, Justice Agbaza rejected all seven statements sought to be tendered by the prosecution.
Dasuki, who served as National Security Adviser under former President Goodluck Jonathan, is standing trial alongside Baba-Kusa, a former General Manager with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, as well as Acacia Holdings Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited.
The defendants are facing an amended 32-count charge filed by the EFCC on behalf of the Federal Government, bordering on alleged criminal breach of trust, dishonest release of funds and receipt of various sums totalling ₦33.2 billion.
The prosecution alleges that the defendants were involved in the misappropriation of security funds held in accounts belonging to the Office of the National Security Adviser.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The defendants were re-arraigned before Justice Agbaza in March 2025, nearly 10 years after their initial arraignment before Justice Husseini Baba-Yusuf, who later became Chief Judge of the FCT.
Following Friday’s ruling rejecting Baba-Kusa’s seven statements, the court adjourned the substantive trial to November 13, 2026, for continuation.
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