[APPEAL COURT JUDGMENT: KUDIRAT’S DAUGHTER, HAFSAT OPENS UP] ------------------------ The last is yet to be heard about the recent acquittal of Major Hamza Al Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Sani Abacha by the Appeal Court in Lagos, over his alleged role in the assassination of Kudirat Abiola. Daughter of the late Kudirat and human rights advocate, Hafsat Abiola has fingered the Nigerian Government, alleging that the release of Al Mustapha was in exchange for something she could not identify. The founder of Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) said: “We don’t know what justice for Kudirat was traded for, but we know it was traded for something. Things are meant to be traded, people are not meant to be traded. Nigerian lives are not to be traded. Our government should be accountable to us, not negotiating away our rights in political negotiations.” Hafsat, whose interview was monitored on Sahara TV at the weekend, by Daily Sun, hinted that her family might take the case to the Supreme Court. “We have to see if there were any political negotiations that impacted the judgment. I think it is important for us to take this case to the Supreme Court. We have to give maximum opportunity for the Nigerian government to do the right thing, we should give the institutions of Nigeria the chance to do the right thing. It doesn’t mean that they will,” she stated. Hasfat said the controversial judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal was the last thing her family expected after the High Court judgment of 2012. “We were shocked, we were angry, it was the last thing we were expecting after the judgment in 2012. Over the years, everybody became quite lax. We were not as attentive as we ought to have been. This trial has been going on for 10 years. At every point, Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan would request a stay in the proceedings. “Because of the delays, the ballistics expert in the case had died, so many of the witnesses had passed on. The defense team was counting on things like these. They knew we had a really strong case. I wonder what was really going on behind the scenes in terms of the judges. “It’s safe to say that we feel betrayed by the political system in Nigeria. But we’re joining a very long queue of people, who would feel betrayed by the Nigerian political system. The system expects you to give up, to just accept that this is the way things are. “There is no change in any society that comes from sitting down and accepting the way things are. If my siblings and I cannot challenge the wrongdoing on behalf of my mother, I really don’t know who in Nigeria can. Justice is difficult for the common man and now it is difficult for the uncommon man,” she said.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 07:58:44 +0000
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