Kudirat Abiola: Supreme Court dismisses case against Major Al-Mustapha
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By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
Abuja—The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the case against Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd) over the 1996 murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election.
Mrs. Abiola was killed in Lagos during nationwide protests following the annulment of her husband’s electoral victory. Major Al-Mustapha, then Chief Security Officer to the late Military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was charged alongside Mohammed Abacha and Lateef Shofolahan. They faced a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of Mrs. Abiola on June 4, 1996.
A Lagos State High Court in 2012 found the defendants guilty and sentenced them to death by hanging. However, in 2013, a three-member Court of Appeal panel unanimously voided the verdict, discharging and acquitting the defendants due to insufficient evidence.
Lagos State challenged the acquittal at the Supreme Court, which in 2014 granted permission to reopen the case despite the lapse of procedural timelines.
On Thursday, the state failed to send any legal representatives or file any process to pursue the appeal. Counsel to Major Al-Mustapha, Mr. Paul Daudu, SAN, argued that Lagos State had abandoned the case, noting that it had been given a 30-day ultimatum in 2014 to file a notice of appeal, which it failed to do.
Following inquiries by a five-member Supreme Court panel led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, it was confirmed that Lagos State was not represented and had provided no explanation. The panel ruled that nine years was long enough for the state to act, and consequently dismissed the appeal, noting that the state had clearly lost interest in pursuing the matter.
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