Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court Abuja, who was among the judges recently arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged corruption, has withdrawn from the trial of embattled former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).
Justice Ademola announced his decision to withdraw from the case in court on Tuesday, attributing his reason as allegations of corruption leveled against him by the DSS, which is the prosecutor in the case.
The DSS operatives had on October 7 raided Ademola’s house, arrested him and claimed that huge sums of money in foreign currencies were found in his possession.
In response to the allegations, the judge had had written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) claiming that he was being harassed and intimidated by the DSS operatives for granting bail to Dasuki and the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.
“I’m sure you are conversant with what is going on the last seven days. One of the allegations being made against me is that I received some money from Sambo Dasuki,” he said.
“This is the allegation of the DSS. I thought I should tell the counsel what is being said. Before I announce my decision, let me ask the defendant (Dasuki) some questions.”
Then he Dasuki whether he had ever met him before the trial or whether he had ever received money from him. Dasuki said ‘no’ to all his questions.