AL MUSTAPHA AND SHOFOLAHAN: MURDERERS GET FREEDOM …MANY KILLERS ARE WALKING FREELY IN OUR COUNTRY The man Al-Mustapha is happy for gaining freedom, for escaping death by hanging which was pronounced by the Lagos state High Court initially before he appealed. The arrow of justice may miss its target, shelve of common law court may permeate shaft. Many times in our society, criminals get freedom and work freely on the street and it is painful. It is highly pathetic, when killers like Al Mustapha and Shofolahan can still escape the hole of judicial shelve; however, there is a lesson derivable from this scenario. It was recently held by the court of Appeal that the prosecution has failed to proof his case beyond reasonable doubt and that there were no nexus between the Appellant and the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola. In that manner, a killer was freed, just like we have thousands of killers working freely on the street in Nigeria. The fault is that of the system which has the poorest investigation compartment, corrupt police, criminal minded political leaders who in many times conspire and abate crime are always catalyst to crime in Nigeria. The common law/our criminal justice has its peculiar problem, we cannot hide away from that. There are ugly scenario where top political class engineered illegal murder in this country, since they are in control of criminal justice, the police, Attorney General of the State and that of the Federation, and the Judiciary, they are all within the influence of the political class that commit murder in many occasions. The unfortunate murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola which was committed on June 4, 1996 was poorly investigated by the police, and the same worthless police have the monopoly of such investigation. Just like many other murder cases were poorly investigated, a good example of such an unfortunate scenario was the murder case of Chief Bola Ige in December 23, 2001, he was the Attorney General of Federation then, the court expressed it total disappointment in the manner in which the Nigeria police investigated the case which was a big barrier and a destruction to justice ab inito. In similar manner, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola’s case was poorly investigated. The witnesses who initially confessed that they were ordered to kill Alhaja kudirat Abiola retracted their confession and said they made such under duress. The bullets that were fired at Alhaja Kudirat Abiola could not be presented as evidence in the court, these and many others makes the court to rule in favour of the accused in accordance with the common law rule. What outcome do you expect from a purely investigated case? It is my opinion that independent and private investigation organizations, highly sophisticated are needed in our country. Reliance on the Nigeria police for investigation will make unlawful killing a lucrative and safe business in Nigeria. Is killing not a lucrative venture in our country when the under listed murder cases were yet to be resolved? *Dele Giwa – October, 1986 *Kudirat Abiola – June 1996 *Aminasoari Kala Dikibo – February 2004 *Harry Marshall – March, 2003 *Barr. Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Amaka, September 1, 2001 *Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju, December 19, 2001 *Chief Bola Ige, December 23, 2001 *Isiaka Mohammed, September 24, 2002 *Theodore Egwuatu, February, 2003 *Rasak Ibrahim, March 20, 2003 *Mr. Anthony Nwudo, March 21, 2003 *Mr. Ikenna Ibor, March 27, 2003 *Emma Onyewuchi, April 19, 2003 *Toni Dimegwu, April 29, 2003 *Chief Ajibola Olanipekun, June 20, 2003 *Andrew Agom, March 3, 2004 *Chief Philip Olorunnipa, March 7, 2004 *Mr. Sunny Atte, February 5, 2005 *Alhaji Alabi Olajokun, May 15, 2005 *Patrick Origbu, June 3, 2005 *Lateef Olaniyan, July 16, 2005 *Anthony Ozioko, July 27, 2005 *Jesse Aruku, June 30, 2006 *Hajiya Sa’adatu Rimi, January 2006 *Engr. Olufunsho Anthony Williams, July 27, 2006 *Dr. Ayo Daramola, August 2006 The case of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola is a pointer to the fact that your life is yours and own by God and not any artificial government. When they say, it is the responsibility of government to secure your lives and properties, I said it is fallacy. I mean several times, government itself kill and kill the investigation. In a simple language, the anus is on every one to provide security of his or her life with little reliance on government. It is highly risky for anyone to keep his life in the custody of corrupt government. Remember also, government is artificial while your life is natural, how can a man made entity be superior to that created by God? The safety of a life is as important as that of a country but country may not value your life like you because you own your life. I know long before now that it may be difficult to establish the offence of murder against AL-MUSTAPHA. It is the jeopardy we find ourselves; many killers are working freely in our country. ABDULSALAM ABDULFATAH LIBERTY PURBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, NIGERIA DYNASTY MAGAZINE COLUMNIST AT NIGERIAN VOICE (ONLINE MEDIA)
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 08:05:55 +0000