Dr. Frederic Fasehun of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), has
applauded the revocation of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha’s death sentence by Court
of Appeal, stressing that such verdict had been long expected.
This was even as he maintained that the decision of the Court of
Appeal had resuscitated people’s confidence in the Judiciary, stating facts
that made him know that Al-Mustapha was innocent.
Addressing journalists yesterday at Century Hotel, Okota, Lagos
State, “For years, I was the lone voice in the wilderness; and detractors
tied me to the stake of their prejudice and set me on fire. And it was not
difficult to see the reason why. Many a Nigerian simply wanted life for life,
and demanded the head of Al-Mustapha and his co-Accused Alhaji Lateef
Shofohan for the blood of Alhaja
Kudirat Abiola, who fell to assassin’s bullets on June 4,
1996 around Seven-Up, Ikeja area of Lagos.”
Fasehun who said his sympathy remains with the Abiola family,
added that even though he also demand justice for the killing of Kudirat Abiola,
he however did not think just anyone should pay for that evil, least of all an
innocent man.
The judicial killing of Al-Mustapha would have been as evil as the
cold-blooded killing of Kudirat Abiola, said Fasehun.
He said: “I have a track record for taking up arms against
oppression everywhere. It informs the stand I took on causes relating to:
Patricia Etteh, Uzoma Okere, Olusegun
Obasanjo, the Southern-Owned Banks, Oladimeji Bankole, Nuhu Ribadu, M.K.O.
Abiola, June 12 and many more. And it would have been opposite to my character
to stay aloof in the case of Al-Mustapha, despite his serving in the General
Sani Abacha government, a regime that detained me and destroyed my health and
my businesses.
“Everyone knows I neither interfered nor intervened in the
Al-Mustapha case until it had run for about eight years. And the case aroused
my particular interest for two chief reasons:The inordinate delay of the trial
and the retracting of supposedly confessional statements erstwhile made by
principal Prosecution Witnesses.”
According to Fasehun, the case rated among the longest in the
annals of Nigeria’s justice system.
“If, as the Prosecution alleged, he was the principal culprit in
the murder of this woman and if all evidence pointed in that direction, why not
finish off the case summarily –it would have been an easy enough case to
conclude? Justice delayed is justice denied.
“What does it take to sentence a criminal already in custody? But
the case dragged on at snail speed. Then at the beginning, the government
engaged in “fishing.” When Mustapha was first arrested and detained, no charge
was procured against him –go and check the records.
“Much later did the charge of murder emerge, and this after those
of coup-plotting, security breach, acquiring stinger missiles, etc. failed to
stick. And then he was locked away in solitary confinement for five years. When
I heard all these, the human being in me kicked. No one deserved to be treated
that way. Not only am I a Yoruba man, I am a Christian as well as a Civil
Rights Advocate; and on all counts, am I sentenced to abhor violence, revenge
and injustice. It was Al-Mustapha today; it could be anyone else next
time.”
He said that several paradoxes cropped up in the course of the
trial to show that the Prosecution actually was taking not just Al-Mustapha but
the entire nation for a ride. Those contradictions included: Conflicting witness accounts, Prosecution
witnesses’ refusal to return for cross-examination, Failure to tender any
ballistic report on the murder weapon, Inability to provide the actual murder
weapon and Absence of a voluntary confession from Al-Mustapha.
“Despite the State’s failure to prove its case beyond all
reasonable doubt, Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court decided to pronounce
the two Accused men guilty of first degree murder,” said Fasehun. “In the words of JUSTICE Mojisola Dada:
“Those who shed blood are those who fear death most. The Defendants are
accordingly sentenced to death by hanging until they are proved dead.”
“At the end of the day, the man became a victim
of mob lynching and jungle justice. He was quickly tried and convicted in the
court of public opinion. And then, dancing to the kokoma drumbeats from
the gallery and her paymasters, Justice Mojisola Dada passed that most
ridiculous death sentence. It was a most wicked ruling to give. It inflicted an
atrocious smear on the integrity and impartiality of the Judiciary. And that is
why the July 12 ruling by the Court of Appeal amounted to redemption for the
Judiciary.”
Facts about the Al-Mustapha’s
trial
Listing what he described as facts about the trial, Fasehun said:
*Nine different panels of enquiry cleared Al-Mustapha of
complicity in the murder, including a Special Investigative Panel established
by the police and the Agbaje Panel set up in 1998 by the government of General
Abubakar Abdulsalami.
*Under cross-examination in court, Barnabas Jabila, alias “Sergeant
Rogers,” rescinded his earlier testimony that Al-Mustapha sent him to kill
Kudirat, and that he had told the falsehood based on instruction from the Lagos
State Government (represented by Professor Yemi Osibajo then the
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice) and the Federal Government
(represented by Chief Bola Ige then the Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice) on condition that he would be rewarded with a house, a foreign posting
and a job for his wife
*Sergeant Rogers said Chief Bola Ige regularly gave him N100,000 in
cash when visiting him in detention, while Osibajo gave him a telephone handset.
*Sergeant Rogers said that in reality he was in Abuja on the day
Kudirat was killed, a fact that could be corroborated by colleagues
*Muhammed Abdul, alias “Katako,” who allegedly drove the vehicle
that took the killers could not tell the court the brand of vehicle he drove
*Katako later broke down in court, saying, he lied based on
instruction from the Lagos State Government (represented by Professor Yemi
Osibajo then the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice) and the Federal
Government (represented by Chief Bola Ige then the Attorney-General and
Minister of Justice) in exchange for a house in Jos and promises that his
family would be catered for
* Katako said that actually on the day of the murder, he was
contracting his first marriage at Azare in Bauchi State
*When Al-Mustapha was first arrested in October 1998, he was
charged with keeping the property of General Sani Abacha, and when that could
not be substantiated, he was charged for gun-running from Libya, and later for
planning to overthrow the government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar
*Al-Mustapha had enjoyed cordial relations with Chief Abiola since
1985, and Abiola introduced him to Reverend Jesse Jackson and Ambassador Walter
Carrington as a son, when the duo visited the politician in detention
*To puncture plans by dissidents to kill Abiola on the night Abacha
died, Al-Mustapha concealed him secretly
*The Prosecution failed to produce the bullet extracted from the
disease and link it to Al-Mustapha’s gun, which was allegedly used to kill
Kudirat.
How
the court of appeal ruled
Fasehun stressed that in view of all these contradictions, the
Court of Appeal made some damning pronouncements on the 326 pages of judgement
by the lower court.
He added: “And I will quote verbatim the ruling by Justice
Nosakhare Pemu and concurred to by Amina Augie and Fatima Omoro Akinbami; It is
obvious that the Prosecution Witnesses fielded by the Prosecution have been so
discredited even in cross-examination that no reasonable court can convict on
the evidence available.
*It is foolhardy and indeed preposterous to say that the
contradictions in the evidence of the Prosecution Witnesses were not material,
as the learned Judge (that is of the Lagos High Court) observed.
* Curiously, the Prosecution agreed that the evidence of the
Prosecution Witnesses was unreliable. He however did not treat them as hostile
witnesses. I wonder how the lower court could have referred to these witnesses
as reliable.
*There is nothing to show that the Appellant did, or omit to do,
any act for the purpose of enabling, or aiding another person, to commit the
offence with which he is charged. There is no evidence that the Appellant
counselled or procured any other person to commit the offence with which he is
charged.
*For a judgement of 326 pages...and the matter being a criminal
offence with two counts of conspiring to murder and murder respectively, it was
foolhardy that the lower court was so carried away and apparently strove to
secure a conviction by all means.
*Directly, or by circumstantial evidence, there is nothing
connecting the Appellant (Major Hamza Al-Mustapha) to the commission of the
murder.
Fasehun’s trip to Kano with
AL-Mustapha
Recollecting that trip, Fasehun said: “I went to Kano to hand over
Al-Mustapha back to his people safe and sound, through Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso
and the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. It was a request Al-Mustapha
made, and one I was too glad to grant.
“Something frightened me about Kano –the crowd. I have seen crowds
in my lifetime. But nothing I ever saw compares to the huge mass of humanity,
that turned out to welcome Al-Mustapha back home to Kano.
“It justified everything I did to fight for this Military officer.
Can you imagine if this man had died in Lagos! How would that crowd greet the
news of his death? What degree of reprisal wouldn’t they have unleashed on the
millions of Yoruba people in their midst? Would we not have sentenced our
kinsmen to certain death –avoidable death? Today, the Yoruba in Kano walk tall.
“In Kano, Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso described me as the only
bridge-builder Nigeria has ever known. When I left Kano last Sunday, 45
Northern dignitaries escorted me to the airport. Such appreciative gestures not
only compensate for all the insults I received over the Al-Mustapha case, they
indicate that I had achieved my quest for a-handshake-across-the-Niger.”
Justice delayed is justice denied
Fasehun continued: “The
detention and trial of this Officer and his co-Accused represented an injustice
on its own. It hardly happens in the civilised world. “If a trial is unduly
delayed, it may cause prejudice to the Defendant; Witnesses may become weary or
start to disappear, memories may begin to fade or entirely lost thereby
affecting the ability of witnesses to recall evidence, finally leading to an
unjust verdict. Death of key witnesses can occur, also, which happened in the
case of Al-Mustapha.
“Currently, the Nigerian
Constitution and law books maintain an indecent silence on the duration of
trials. Nigeria must hasten to copy “The United States’ Speedy Trial Act of
1974” that establishes time limits for completing the various stages of a
federal criminal prosecution.
“Also, the Judiciary must
invest in modern equipment to speed up the dispensation of justice in the court
system. And then, why would you lock away a person for 15 years (representing
roughly 23 prison years) for a case he has not been sentenced for? What if he
is found innocent in the end, as has happened in the case of Major Al-Mustapha?
How do you compensate for all that wasted time? South Africa impressed me in
tackling this dilemma.
“ In South Africa, the
Paralympian Gold Medallist, Oscar Pistorius, accused of killing his
girlfriend in February, has been released on bail. After all, a man is
considered innocent until proved otherwise. Bail for Accused in lingering
trials will serve the cause of justice and human rights.”
Fasehun urged Nigerians to put the Mustapha’s case behind and
forge the way into the future.
He also advised the Lagos State Government to stop wasting
taxpayers’ money and immediately dismantle the team it assigned to prosecute
the case.
“Although it is the government’s right to pursue the case to the
Supreme Court, not only will such a cause waste time and money, it will further
fan the embers of hatred between the North and the South and prolong the
psychological torture inflicted on an innocent man,” said the OPC chieftain.
The real killer of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola is still at large, out
there. A fresh hunt must be launched to unmask her real killers, as well as
those responsible for killing: Bola Ige, Harry Marshall, Alfred Rewane, Funsho
Williams, Odunayo Olagbaju, Ogbonnaya Uche, Theodore Agwatu, Barnabas and
Abigail Igwe, Bisoye Tejuosho, Aminasoari Dikibo, Philip Olorunnipa, Ayo
Daramola, Olaitan Oyerinde and M.K.O. Abiola.
For her own part in this Theatre of the Absurd, Justice Mojisola
Dada must be probed and sanctioned by the National Judicial Council, NJC.
MY ACCUSERS AND MY CREDENTIALS
I have received vilifications for my support for Al-Mustapha from
even my most trusted associates. But none of these moves me. My accusers know
my credentials. And with all modesty, I say my pro-democratic credentials are
formidable and unassailable. I am a Patriarch of this Democracy –a fact that no
Jupiter can take from me. I helped to lay the foundation for the Social
Democratic Party, SDP, and helped build it into a party that would earn
Progressives their first taste of national victory. I worked for Abiola’s
victory in the legendary June 12 election. In the forefront of those who
founded NADECO, I stand counted as a strong and sturdy pillar. At a time when
the world thought Yoruba would spinelessly turn the other cheek, I
single-handedly founded OPC to fight the cause of M.K.O. Abiola and June 12.
When Abacha goons began to hound down pro-Democrats, I stole the likes of Chief
Anthony Enahoro through the “NADECO Route” out of Nigeria, while I myself
returned home to face the wrath of their hunters. I was arrested. I was
detained at notorious detention centres. I spent almost two years in solitary
confinement (December 1996 to June 1998), where I nearly lost my mind and I actually lost my perfect
eyesight. General Sani Abacha, through the Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters
General Oladipo Diya and the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Dr. Olu
Onagoruwa, offered me the Chairmanship of the National Economic Group, but I
turned it down. Due to my uncompromising role in the pro-democratic struggle,
my hospital lost the thriving retainership we held with Federal MDAs like NEPA
(valued at over N10 million per annum during a period the Naira had better
value). My wife suffered. My children suffered. My staff suffered. Our
flourishing pharmacy business collapsed irretrievably. I cannot count the
number of courts I have been hurled before on trumped up charges; and not a
single one found me guilty of as much as a misdemeanour –all the Judges
discharged and acquitted me. My hotel bears the marks of boots, batons and
bullets of security invaders, with valuables, ranging from shoes to foreign
currencies, lost forever.
Today, I make bold to say that, apart from those who lost their
lives, if anyone else has contributed to, or suffered for, Nigeria more than I
have (and I mean ANYONE), I challenge them to come forward!
CONCLUSION
Why will I continue to tread this lonely road? Simple, what the
elder sees at dawn, the neophyte sees when it is too late. Before any court
would pronounce him guiltless, I saw beyond the chicanery, the subterfuge and
the politics in the Al-Mustapha case, and I told the whole world that this man
in chains was not the killer of that forthright woman. I risked life and
livelihood and associates to take my stand. He was just a man whom some
powerful people want dead at all costs because of their dirty secrets in his
possession. And several years down the line, a court of unbiased judges has
vindicated me. Today, I demand apologies from all those who condemned me for
taking my unshaken stand on Major Al-Mustapha.
In concluding, let me say that in all these things, some dominant
passions drive me: One is the quest to keep Nigeria united, peaceful and
prosperous. The other is the determination that, until I breathe my last, I
shall always stand up to tyranny and injustice. My passion to stand up for the
oppressed is driven by God, by conscience and by self-preservation. It also
owes to the realisation that what goes around unchallenged will eventually come
round unrestrained. Therefore, we must strive to build our social justice in
consonance with the famous words of Martin Niemoller, that German Pastor, whose
outspokenness
annoyed Adolf Hitler, so much that Hitler locked him up in a
concentration camp for seven years. Listen to what Niemoller said:
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak out because
I wasn’t a Communist
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak out
because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I
wasn’t a Jew
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for
me.
It was Major Al-Mustapha facing injustice yesterday, who knows
whose turn it will be tomorrow?
Nigerians anywhere can rest assured that if any should find
himself on the horns of injustice, I shall fight for that person with the very
same passion and doggedness as I fought for Major Al-Mustapha and Bashorun
Abiola. So help me God.
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