The judgment of a Lagos High Court, sentencing Major Hamza Al-Mustapha to death, to many, marks the end of a train travelling at a snail speed but obviously, Nigerians have not heard the last on the matter not because the state governor is unlikely to sign his death warrant but because Al-Mustapha has refused to accept the judgment. Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare reports.ASIDE his popularity as the late Sani Abacha's Chief Security Officer (CSO), Major Al-Mustapha has made himself more popular, through his trial, which is unrivalled in the history of Nigeria in terms of drama, duration, as well as revelations that could create confusion in the country. Since the trial started 13 years ago, circumstances surrounding the trial have made it more than a legal and judicial process, as the former CSO continually revealed the depth of his intelligence by giving various earthshaking revelations and treating Nigerians to a comedy that stunned even the normally sceptical individual.Al-Mustapha, who is still in service of the Nigerian Army, continued to deny the allegations against him, claiming that he was a victim of a conspiracy by very powerful people. The trial was one that challenged the strength of the judiciary, as there were continuous efforts to frustrate the trial. The case was passed through many judges while it lasted and diverse tricks were tried on the judges and the Nigerian public, turning it to a political issue rather than a normal judicial process that it was. Many of the revelations that Al-Mustapha gave during his defence were calculated at tapping into the sympathetic nature of the Nigerian public, as he claimed at various times that his trial was politically motivated and unjust. The case witnessed so many twists and turns and was filled with hearing of many applications and trials within trial as well as judicial circumnavigations over preliminary objections principally raised by the accused Al-Mustapha's lawyer, which made many to forget the substance of the charge against him.During his defence, Al-Mustapha was carried away by his numerous revelations that he did not pay much attention to defending himself of the real charge. Rather than give facts on his claimed innocence, he decided to make unsubstantiated allegations about some personalities both dead and living. This added more to the entertainment value of his trial as he continued to be first page news throughout the period of his defence.Al Mustapha claimed that he possessed damning evidence regarding why the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, wanted to put him to death through the trial. These proofs, according to him, are video and audio records of how General Abubakar bribed late Chief Bola Ige and late Pa Abraham Adesanya to betray Abiola's mandate and contain evidence of Abubakar's complicity in Abiola's murder. Also, he even quoted the total amounts purportedly distributed to Ige, Adesanya, and other faceless Yoruba leaders but did not substantiate his claim.This led to a lot of political complications and undertones as well as widespread attention, interest and support from many unlikely sources. One of Al-Mustapha's staunch supporters that continually asked for his release is Dr Frederick Faseun of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC). He continually alleged that Al-Mustapha was being treated unjustly as a result of the long period of his trial and persistently called for his release.Many people that called for his release, based on the length of time spent in detention did not consider the fact that the unusual delay was from the defence and not the state or the judiciary. Instead of giving an iron tight legal defence to the charges, his defence team (with his consent) embarked on a campaign of frivolous applications and mini trials which many have described as an abuse of court process and reassigning judges over allegations of bribery, with the hope that there would be a political intervention along the line.The journey began in the year 2000, when the state, acting on the advice from the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), initiated criminal charges against Major Hamza al-Mustapha and two others on a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder. However that year, the case could not move beyond the preliminary stages until the presiding trial judge then, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, was elevated to the Court of Appeal and the case had to be reassigned.After a series of delays, the sensational drama began, with many pauses and adjournments, until July 2011, when Justice Mojisola Dada closed the case of the prosecution when they (the defendants) failed to produce the fourth prosecution witness, Ahmed Fari Yusuf (a Commissioner of Police) in court to conclude his testimony, with the excuse that he was on official assignment.Part of the drama also came from the star prosecution witness, Sergeant Barnabas Jabila (aka Sgt. Rogers) and another soldier, Mohammed Abdul (aka Katako), when they recanted their testimony before the court.The duo had earlier told the court that Sofolahan, acting as Kudirat's aide, gave them information on her itinerary, which helped them to successfully assassinate her. Jabila was a member of the special security outfit established to protect Abacha and his family, while Abdul served as a personal driver to Mohammed.The witnesses almost turned the prosecution's case into a joke later when they surprisingly recanted during cross-examination, denying their earlier evidence. They later blamed their strange decision to make a U-turn on the allegation that the state reneged on its promise to compensate them materially after the trial.They alleged that the state failed to honour its word, under the witness protection programme, to reward them and their families for acting as prosecution witnesses. Also, at a point, the Director of Public Prosecution in the state, Mrs Olabisi Ogungbesan, declared in open court, that their witnesses were being reached and even applied that the court declare one of their witnesses a hostile witness in the second case before Justice Olokooba, an application that the court granted.Testifying for himself as the first defendant witness, Al-Mustapha denied all the allegations against him especially regarding sending anybody to kill Kudirat.He also denied sending men to monitor activities of NADECO members. But he was confronted with his statement, from which he read to the court a portion, where he admitted to sending CSP Lawal to monitor NADECO rally in Lagos. When he denied any involvement in the killing of Kudirat, the prosecution confronted him with a statement by Mohammed Abacha, contained in the Supreme Court's judgment in an interlocutory appeal by Mohammed, and upon which he was freed.When the parties adopted their final written addresses on November 10, the prosecution said it had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and urged the court to convict the accused accordingly.The defence, led by Olalekan Ojo, urged the court to acquit his clients on the grounds that the prosecution failed to satisfactorily discharge the burden of proof placed on it by law. He argued that it was impossible for the court to reach a verdict of guilt against his clients, based on the supposed contradictory and unreliable evidence provided by the prosecution, particularly by its star witnesses, Jabila and Abdul. The drama notwithstanding, the court still found him guilty and he was sentenced to death through the hangman's noose but he has stated through his lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, that he could not be condemned to the death row and has filed an appeal against the judgment.Whichever way the trial is assessed, Al-Mustapha continues to dazzle both friends and foes. No one seems able to differentiate between the fact and the fiction about his personality.As his aura of mystery increases so does the respect for his intelligence. Even the fact that he was charged to have attempted to overthrow the democratic government of Olusegun Obasanjo on April 1, 2004, while being held in detention at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, did not harm him in anyway. Rather, it summarises the kind of power attributed to him.
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