A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja this morning refused to grant an application by former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd.), seeking to quash the charges against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for disobeying a court order granting him bail.

The trial judge, Justice Peter Affem, held that contrary to the application by Dasuki, it was the Department of State Services (DSS) which was not a party in the suit, that arrested him and not the EFCC. He agreed with the anti-graft agency that it had not flouted any part of the orders to release Dasuki on bail.

Justice Affem also held that even though the EFCC and the DSS were agencies of the Federal Government, the action of one agency could not count for that of the other.

“They were set up under separate laws and have separate responsibilities in ensuring law and order in the country. To this end, the application fails in its entity,” he said.

The judge also rejected the prayer by the former NSA to in the alternative “stay proceedings in the trial, pending when the Department of State Services complies with the order of the court which released him on bail, on the grounds that stay of proceedings are ordered only as a matter of law and not procedures.”

The trial has been adjourned to April 20.

•Based on a Channels TV report. Photo shows Sambo Dasuki.