THE Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an application by the Department of State Services (DSS) seeking to re-admit previously rejected exhibits in the ongoing trial of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), over alleged unlawful possession of firearms.
News Point Nigeria reports that in a firm ruling delivered on Tuesday, Justice Peter Lifu held that the request by the DSS to re-present the same exhibits, earlier marked and rejected was legally untenable, describing the attempt as “an invitation to judicial rascality.”
The DSS, through its lead counsel, Oladipupo Okpeseyi (SAN), had filed a motion asking the court to revisit exhibits numbered 18 to 28 on the search warrant executed at Dasuki’s Abuja residence in 2015.
The items, reportedly including several vehicles and arms-related materials, had been rejected in a previous court session.
At the last hearing on September 25, Okpeseyi also requested that the court relocate its proceedings to the DSS headquarters in Abuja to enable an on-site inspection of the vehicles said to have been seized from the former NSA during the 2015 search operation.
He argued that the exhibits, which had remained at the DSS facility for nearly ten years, were critical to substantiating the government’s case against Dasuki.
However, when Justice Lifu inquired whether the exhibits in question were the same as those previously rejected, Okpeseyi confirmed they were, maintaining that the rejection had occurred merely because the prosecution had failed to establish a proper foundation at the time.
Citing several legal authorities, the DSS counsel insisted that since the earlier rejection was not due to irrelevance but to procedural gaps, the prosecution had the right to re-present them after curing the defects.
But Dasuki’s lawyer, A.A. Usman, vehemently opposed the application, calling it “strange, baseless, and unknown to law.”
He argued that once a court rejects an exhibit, that decision stands final unless overturned by an appellate court not by the same judge on a later date.
“It is settled law that a rejected exhibit remains rejected. This court cannot re-open a matter it has already conclusively decided. Doing so amounts to reviewing its own decision through the back door,” Usman stated.
He reminded the court that in its July 10, 2025 ruling, it had already found the exhibits both irrelevant and improperly introduced, urging the court to dismiss the DSS’s motion as “a desperate attempt to turn back the hands of the clock.”
In his ruling, Justice Lifu agreed with the defence, holding that the exhibits remained inadmissible and could not be smuggled back into the record under any guise.
“I recall that on July 10, 2025, I delivered a considered ruling rejecting the same sets of exhibits due to improper foundation and lack of relevance to the charge. That ruling still subsists and binds this court,” he stated.
“Any attempt to revisit that decision will amount to judicial rascality and pettiness, which this court will not engage in. Common sense and the rule of law forbid granting this kind of request,” Justice Lifu declared.
He consequently dismissed the DSS application in its entirety, reaffirming that the previously rejected exhibits remain inadmissible in Dasuki’s trial.
The case, which stems from a 2015 raid on Dasuki’s residence following his removal as National Security Adviser, has lingered for nearly a decade amid multiple legal challenges and government appeals.