The Department of State Services, DSS, on Thursday arraigned former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai before the Federal High Court in Abuja on a revised five-count charge relating to alleged breaches of national security.
El-Rufai was brought before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, where he pleaded not guilty to all the charges read against him.
During the proceedings, DSS counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Oluwole Aladedoye, told the court that the case was scheduled for the defendant’s plea. He also disclosed that an amended five-count charge had been filed on April 13 and urged the court to replace the earlier three-count charge with the new document.
“We pray that the earlier charge be struck out, my lord,” he told the court.
Counsel to the former governor, Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, confirmed receipt of the amended charge and did not oppose its adoption. Consequently, the court struck out the initial three-count charge.
After the amended charges were read in open court, El-Rufai entered a plea of not guilty to all counts. The prosecution thereafter requested that the trial be fixed for three consecutive days.
However, the defence objected to the request, arguing that scheduling continuous trial dates could create logistical challenges, particularly as the defendant had been in the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, and access arrangements might be constrained.
Iyamu also drew the court’s attention to a pending bail application filed on February 17, noting that a supporting affidavit was not present in the case file. In response, the trial judge stood down proceedings briefly to allow the defence to regularise the filing before the matter could proceed further.”
