Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Death sentence: Lagos stalls al-Mustapha’s appeal


Al-Mustapha

Hearing of the appeal  filed by Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, sentenced to death for the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, was on Monday stalled at the Court of Appeal, Lagos due to late filing of the Lagos State Government’s opposition to the case.
This came even as the convict’s supporters again besieged the courtroom. They had also on January 30, 2012, stormed the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, when al-Mustapha and the late Kudirat’s personal aide, Lateef Shofolahan, were sentenced to death by hanging.
The supporters, comprising men and women, said prayers together for his release, after the appellate court adjourned the matter and fixed May 30 as fresh hearing date.
Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, and Shofolahan were not present in court.
Counsel for the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Mr. Femi Adamson, on Monday, told the Chima Nweze-led appeal panel that he had just filed the respondent’s brief just before the court started sitting.
The state filed its respondent’s briefs 37 days after the expiration of the official30 days grace period.
The appeal panel accepted copies of the respondent’s brief after it granted Adamson’s application seeking “an enlargement of time” within which to file the brief.
Nweze expressed concern over the delay in filing the brief of argument, saying it was “unfair” for Adamson to be “rushing in the respondent’s brief this morning”.
Both al-Mustapha’s counsel, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN) and that of Shofolahan, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, did not oppose the state’s application for enlargement of time.
The appeal panel last February 15 had ordered al-Mustapha and Shofolahan to, within seven days, file fresh appellants’ briefs and serve the same on the state.
The panel had fixed hearing of the appeal for Monday with the expectation that the state would have responded to the appellants’ briefs within 30 days.
Daudu, subsequently withdrew an earlier application seeking the court to forgo the state’s opposition to the appeal.
Daudu had argued in the application dated March 25, 2013, that the state had lost its right to file any brief of argument having failed to do so as at March23, 2013, which made it 30days after it was served with the appellant’s brief.
Justice Mojisola Dada of the state High Court in Igbosere had, on January 30,2012, sentenced al-Mustapha and Shofolahan to death by hanging for the murder of Kudirat, who was gunned down in Lagos on June 4, 1996.
Kudirat was a wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola.
PUNCH

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