Dasuki’s bank accounts may be blocked this week

Firstclass néwsline learnt that there are strong indications in Abuja
that the Department of State Services will soon apply for a court
order to freeze the bank accounts of a former National Security
Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
Firstclass newsline learnt on Sunday that Dasuki's bank accounts would
be frozen because of the investigation into the spending of the funds
appropriated for defence.
The sum of N28.5bn was earmarked in the 2014 budget for the purchase
of security equipment by the office of the NSA.
The DSS is planning to apply for court order to freeze Dasuki's
accounts in order to prevent the funds in the accounts from being
depleted.
The accounts, fit was learnt, would enable investigators to track the
inflow and outflow of money from them as well as the sources of the
money.
The DSS had invaded the ex-NSA's house on Friday.a source reliably
learnt that the former NSA would be invited for further questioning
over items found in his house as well as the spending of
anti-insurgency funds.
The DSS had on Friday surrounded the house of Dasuki in Abuja and
forced the former NSA to stay indoors for about 24 hours. The
operatives were said to have seized the international passport of the
former national security adviser.
The security agency had in a statement on Saturday night accused
Dasuki of felony, misuse of power and possession of destructive
weapons.
It said it recovered from Dasuki's home seven high calibre rifles
(high assault weapons), several magazines, military related gears and
12 new vehicles, including five bulletproof cars.
A top officer of the DSS confided in one of our correspondents that
Dasuki would face further interrogations this week
"We will apply for a court order and the bank accounts of the former
NSA would be frozen this week when the investigation starts. The
present administration believes in accountability and will investigate
how defence votes were spent," the official said.
A Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, said the bank account of any
citizen could not be lawfully frozen without first obtaining a court
order.
"You cannot freeze the account of anybody without a court order. It
cannot be done by executive fiat," the lawyer told one of our
correspondents on the telephone on Sunday.
It was learnt that the former NSA might be charged with treason and
corruption, if found culpable.
But a lawyer, Yunus Abdulsalam, dismissed the threat to charge the
former NSA with treason based on the items recovered from his home.
Though, he admitted that the search conducted by the DSS at the former
NSA's home was valid since it was backed by a court order, he however
contended that all the items recovered from Dasuki constituted
property that could be legitimately owned by any citizen.
Abdulsalam said, "Once there is a search warrant and the search is
conducted, it is valid; there is no doubt about that.
"Under section 36 of the Constitution, it is presumed that everybody
has the right to own property and the presumption of the law is that
you are the owner of the property.
"The question, that flows from the above is whether any of the items
found on the ex-NSA, including the cars and the rifles, constitute
what cannot be legitimately got by any citizen. Don't forget the
former NSA was a former military officer and he has a wealthy
background."
Also, an aide to the former NSA, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, described the allegations against his principal as
laughable.
The aide said that the cars that were removed from Dasuki's Abuja
house belonged to his family members and friends.
He also explained that the guns found at the residence of the former
NSA were for his security team and not for any intent against the
state.
The source said that Dasuki had been outside the country doing
international business for years and that he was a rich man before his
appointment.
The source added that the former NSA, a son of a deposed Sultan of
Sokoto, resigned from the Minting and Printing company as the managing
director on his own and that he could not have stolen a bulletproof
car when he had enough money to buy on his own.
The aide further argued that there was nothing stopping the
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan's NSA from venturing into his personal
business after serving the state if he wanted to.
He said, "What I can tell you is that the allegations are laughable.
What is he going to do with bulletproof cars in this era of
technology?
"The person we are talking about was a former ADC to a former
President, a former Managing Director of Minting and Printing, who has
been outside the country doing his international business.
"Dasuki is a rich man by all standards. The family is very rich; his
father was a former Sultan of Sokoto."
It was learnt that a former Chief Security Officer to Jonathan, Gordon
Obua, was also being detained as part of investigations into the
security spending at the Presidential Villa during his time.
A lawyer to Obua has raised the alarm about the detention of his client.
The lawyer, Onochie Onwuegbuna, said in a statement that Obua had been
in detention since July 16 without being told what offence he
committed.
The lawyer said Obua was hypertensive and diabetic "to the knowledge
of his employers, the SSS" and that he had been denied access to his
daily medications to manage these severe ailments.
The DSS could not be reached for comment on reasons for Obua's
detention and the plan to freeze Dasuki's bank accounts.
The DSS has yet to announce a spokesperson since the removal of Maryln Ogar.
But a security expert, Max Gbanite, stated that the government had the
right to probe Dasuki based on the security report available to the
President, noting that the DSS could not have carried out the
operation at the ex-NSA's residences without a presidential directive.
Gbanite, who just concluded a counter-terrorism training in Israel,
said Dasuki had a right to lawyers who would defend him in court,
insisting that the onus was on the government to prove its case
against the former NSA.
He said, "Those who believe that Dasuki was being victimised based on
his roles in 1983, are not far from the truth and the DSS who claimed
that they found firearms in his house; the issue is, as a retired
colonel in the military and a former NSA, is he entitled to firearms?
"The good thing about the dynamics of democracy is that the former NSA
must have his lawyers and the government must prove its case, so there
is no need for us to fret over this matter."
Meanwhile, officials of the DSS are currently interrogating operatives
of Radio Biafra, who were arrested and brought to Abuja on Thursday.
The Director of Public Affairs of the National Broadcasting
Commission, Mr. Awwalu Salihu, confirmed the interrogation in a
telephone interview with a source in Abuja on Sunday.
Salihu also said that the broadcast regulatory agency as well as
security agencies were hunting for both financiers and the other
operatives of the radio currently on the run.
Although he could not disclose the number of those that were arrested,
he said they were arrested in the Enugu/Owerri axis in the South-East
part of the country.
According to the NBC official, some of the parties involved in the
operation of the illegal radio are not resident in Nigeria.
He told a source that the agency had been collaborating with other
agencies to block the Internet outlet of the radio operation.
"It takes longer time to block the Internet because of the nature of
the net and the international protocols involved," he said.
Apart from treasonable felony, Salihu listed the crimes for which
those arrested were going to be prosecuted to include illegal
broadcasting, illegal appropriation of frequency and broadcast of hate
messages.
He added that the agency had been studying the Cybercrime Law that was
recently passed by the National Assembly.
"No one is going to be allowed to break this country," he said.
The Director-General of NBC, Mr. Emeka Mbah, had on Friday announced
the confiscation of the equipment of the illegal radio.
The Biafra radio has been broadcasting messages that encourage the
Igbo of the South-East to break away from Nigeria, inciting the
citizens of the region against the Federal Government.
Firstclassnewsline.net