Afenifere, OPC kick as court frees Al-Mustapha, Shofolahan •Jubilation in Kano THE Court of Appeal, sitting in Lagos, on Friday discharged and acquitted Major Hamza al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sanni Abacha, who was sentenced to death over the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996. Both the Odua People’s Congress (OPC) and the Pan Yoruba group, Afenifere, however, condemned the verdict which they noted was a set back to the rule of law and justice. There was, however, spontaneous jubilation in Kano on Friday as the news of al-Mustapha’s acquittal filtered in, while anxious family members and friends of the former CSO besieged the gates of the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, Apapa, Lagos, in anticipation of his release. In a unanimous decision, the appeal court upturned the judgement of a Lagos High Court which convicted al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Sofolahan in January 2012. The trial judge, Justice Mojisola Dada, had on January 30, 2012 passed a death sentence on both men after finding them guilty of the murder of the wife of the late acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola. While reading the lead judgement in both appeals, Justice Rita Pemu observed that al-Mustapha, in the issues submitted for determination, wanted the court to determine whether the offence of conspiracy had been established; whether the offence of murder had been established and whether there was any evidence, apart from that given by the four prosecution witnesses, which linked the appellant (al-Mustapha) to the offence. On the issue of conspiracy, Justice Pemu observed that 12 witnesses were listed to testify for the prosecution at the Lagos High Court and wondered why only four were made to testify. She also said that the special bullet said to have killed Kudirat was not tendered in court. Justice Pemu said, “the prosecution has failed to prove the allegation of conspiracy and murder of Kudirat Abiola against the appellants. The prosecution has failed to produce in court the bullet extracted from the forehead of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, and no reason has been given. “There is no evidence before the court that the appellants conspired to murder Kudirat. The totality of the evidences brought by the prosecution is of no moment and consequently baseless. “There is nothing connecting the appellants with the murder of the deceased. There is even nothing to show that the appellants had the intention to murder the deceased.” She held further that the contradictions in the testimonies of the second prosecution witness, Barnabas Jabila (a.k.a. Sergeant Rogers) and Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a. Katako), rendered their evidence discredited. “The fact that both men first testified of how they were recruited to participate in the murder and then recanted under cross-examination, saying that they were induced by the state to lie against al-Mustapha, discredited the evidence of the prosecution. “It is evident that the lower court did not evaluate the evidence before it,” she stated. Justice Pemu said it was not in doubt that Kudirat Abiola was killed by a single bullet to her head, but that “there is no evidence, direct or circumstantial, that links the appellant to the murder.” She also faulted the police investigation, which she described as “wishy-washy.” Faulting the lower court for holding the evidence of Rogers and Katako as material to the case, she said that suspicion cannot become conviction, and that though Kudirat was a person of note, the case still had to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. “Who killed her? Could the person be in this court? There is only one person that knows: God. He alone will judge. God is not a respecter of persons. The law is also not a respecter of persons. The law is not interested in persons,” the judge said. The court also acquitted and discharged Shofolahan for the similar reasons. Jubilation in Kano As soon as the news of the acquittal filtered in, a large crowd trooped out in Kano in jubilation, while special prayers were offered in mosques and other places to express gratitude to Allah for the historic event. Saturday Tribune also gathered that a special plan is ongoing to mobilize the teeming masses to welcome al-Mustapha back to the city of Kano. The state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Ransom Bello, however, said al-Mustapha’s release put a question mark on the dispensation of justice in Nigeria. Elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, noted that his release after so many years in incarceration was a pointer to the fact that Allah has a definite time for whatever problem human beings pass through.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 04:17:47 +0000
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