The Supreme Court has dismissed the trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (Rtd), who was Chief Security Officer, CSO to the late Military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, over the murder of late politician, Kudirat Abiola, wife of presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Moshood Abiola
She was assassinated in Lagos during the nationwide unrest that followed the annulment, while actively campaigning for the restoration of her husband’s mandate.
On Thursday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, dismissed the case after Lagos State failed to take steps to re-open the trial more than nine years after being granted permission to do so.
At the hearing, Lagos State was absent and had no legal representation. No court processes had been filed by the state since 2014, when the Supreme Court granted it leave to re-open the case.
Counsel for Al-Mustapha, Paul Daudu, SAN, informed the court that Lagos State had failed to comply with the court’s 2014 order directing it to file a notice of appeal within 30 days. He noted that the state neither filed the notice of appeal nor took any action to demonstrate its intention to prosecute the case.
Daudu argued that the prolonged inaction amounted to abandonment of the appeal and urged the court to dismiss the matter entirely.
Justice Aba-Aji asked whether Lagos State had been served with hearing notices. The court registrar confirmed that the state had indeed been served.
In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court held that Lagos State had lost interest in the case and effectively abandoned it. The court stated that nine years was more than sufficient time to file a notice and brief of appeal.
The justices also expressed displeasure over the absence of the state’s legal representatives, despite being served hearing notices since 2020, and the lack of any communication to the court or the respondent.
The Apex Court consequently dismissed the appeal.
In 2014, the Supreme Court granted Lagos State permission to challenge the July 12, 2013 judgement of the Court of Appeal, which discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha. The ruling was delivered by a seven-man panel led by then Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who ordered the state to file its notice of appeal within 30 day, a directive the state failed to comply with.
Al-Mustapha, Mohammed Abacha, and the late Lateef Shofolahan were initially arraigned before a Lagos High Court on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996.
In a judgment delivered on January 30, 2012, Justice Moji Dada of the Lagos High Court found the accused guilty and sentenced them to death by hanging.
Al-Mustapha appealed the verdict on April 27, 2012. On July 12, 2013, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction, discharged, and acquitted the accused, ruling that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain the death sentence.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
