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Tag: Al-Mustapha

  • Only Supreme Court can determine Al-Mustapha’s fate – Sagay

    Only Supreme Court can determine Al-Mustapha’s fate – Sagay

    Prof. Itse Sagay said the Lagos State government can go to the Supreme Court over the appellate court’s discharge and acquittal of Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan.

    Sagay, a constitutional lawyer, said this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

    The constitutional lawyer, who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the state government reserved the right to appeal if it was not satisfied with the judgment.

    According to him, in spite of the fact that the Court of Appeal in Lagos has discharged and acquitted them, only the Supreme Court has the final say.

    “I have not seen the judgment, but I have seen what the press summarised and basically what I deduce from what was published is that the evidences are contradictory.

    “I cannot question it because I have not seen the details of what was in favour and what was against.

    “I have not read the details of the contradictions, but Lagos State Government can appeal against the judgment to the Supreme Court.

    “It does not matter whether they have been discharged and acquitted by the Court of Appeal in Lagos,” he said.

    Sagay expressed fears that the judgment might encourage the culture of impunity in the society.

     

  • Al-Mustapha in Pix

    Al-Mustapha in Pix

  • Al-Mustapha: Afenifere, others reject court verdict

    Al-Mustapha: Afenifere, others reject court verdict

    The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, and the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) have rejected the weekend verdict of the Court of Appeal over the discharge and acquittal of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Sofolahan over the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

    KIND, the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) established in memory of the late activist, wants the Attorney General of Lagos State to challenge the judgment at the Supreme Court. According to it, the appeal is in the overall interest of the dead and the living.

    It said it is also weighing the option of launching a civil action after obtaining the judgment and commissioning “a team of legal experts to study it in detail, with a view to determining whether a civil action is advisable at this point.”

    According to the NGO, in asking for the matter to go to the apex court, it is not in any way “seeking vengeance or retribution,” but “a final judicial resolution of the question, “Who killed Kudirat Abiola?”

    It said: “Justice has not been served by the judgment of the Court of Appeal” and recalled that the judiciary has failed in resolving any of the murder cases from the Abacha years to the assassination of Chief Bola Ige under the Obasanjo government.

    “Is it that the Nigerian judiciary is incapable of resolving cases of political murders and assassinations, or that the Nigerian state lacks the competence, capability or will to prosecute cases of political murders?” it wondered and added: “With this reversal, the Nigerian judiciary has now exonerated all persons that were brought to trial for the gruesome acts of murders and attempted murders that took place during the Abacha regime (before now, the persons tried for the attempted assassinations of Alex Ibru and Pa Abraham Adesanya had been set free, Muhammed Abacha, General Ishaya Bamaiyi, and the police officers, Alhaji Danbaba, and Rabo Lawal). Also, the men who were herded into court for the assassination of Pa Alfred Rewane were released for want of evidence. “

    Afenifere also expressed dissatisfaction with the judgement of the Lagos State chapter of the group saying:”In our opinion, the witnesses who gave evidence of the truth at the inception of the trial were instigated to contradict their evidence to render the evidence ineffective.

    “Nigerians must remember that Kudirat and other Nigerians who were opposed to the Abacha regime were brutally butchered. We doubt if the law enforcement agencies will need to look for other culprits for these crimes. We already know who the murderers and accomplices are.”

    Mr Adamu Turaki, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Jigawa chapter, however commended the appeal court for acquitting Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan.

    Turaki told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse that the judgment was commendable and will repose more confidence in the judiciary, considering the length of time spent on the trial.

    Lagos lawyer, Mr. Ebun Adegboruwa, said while he is happy that the system of due process and democratic resort to the law court, for redress, is working, “had the judgment of the Justice Mojisola Dada, of the Lagos High Court, that sentenced him to death, been delivered in 1994 when Al-Mustapha was CSO to late Gen Sani Abacha, he would have been executed by now. It is indeed gratifying that Al-Mustapha is now benefitting from the same judiciary that he worked tirelessly to annihilate.”

    He added: “Thus, I cannot take the acquittal as a verdict of clearance for Al-Mustapha. I personally tasted of the madness, of the wickedness and deprivations that Gen Abacha and Al-Mustapha subjected Nigerians to, when I was incarcerated in solitary confinement at the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Apapa, for nine months without trial. The judgment of Hon Just I.N. Auta, that I should be released, was ignored and derided by Al-Mustapha and his co-dictators. But today, he was released from Kirikiri prisons the same day the judgment was delivered.

    “If it is indeed true that there was no evidence before the court linking him with the charges, or there is any doubt in the case of the prosecution, then he is entitled to the liberty of man. But that is not the end of the case at all. There is the judgment of man, judgment of self (conscience) and the judgment of God. It is clear to me that MKO Abiola, Kudirat Abiola and all other martyrs, who gave up their lives and liberties for this present democracy, have not died or laboured in vain.”

    Two members of the Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA) are also disappointed by the verdict.

    Mr Segun Olulade (ACN-Epe II) said: “As far as I am concerned, the judgment does not speak well of our judicial system, but whatever the judges have said is final.

    “It is now left for the prosecution to go ahead or not.”

    Mr Bisi Yusuf, (ACN-Alimosho I) claimed that Al-Mustapha escaped the judgment of man and not that of God, if he was actually involved in Kudirat’s murder.

    “He only escaped the wrath of man; the judgment of God is there for him if he committed the crime,” he said.

    The Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr Ade Ipaye, told journalists on Friday evening that he would need to study the judgment before commenting on it.

    He said that the Court of Appeal was yet to issue copies of the judgment.

    Mustapha himself said yesterday that he has forgiven his detractors.

    He said on the Hausa Service of BBC that he remains a Major in the army and should not be dragged into politics.

    “I am still a Major in the Nigerian Army, and cannot be dragged into politics more so that I have been ex communicated for so long, I don’t think of politics; my major preoccupation now is how to reunite with my profession.”

    He alleged “conscious effort by those behind my travail to paint me black before the whole world, but my gratitude goes to God for allowing truthfulness to triumph over falsehood.”

    He said that in the last 14 years, he was kept in solitary confinement for five years and three months and was subsequently detained in about 32 facilities across the country.

    Moments after his release on Friday, Al-Mustapha visited Pastor T.B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church, Ikotun, a Lagos suburb.

    He was on a courtesy visit to the cleric who traced their relationship back to the Abacha years when he was arrested and detained for nine days on the strength of a petition sent to the Chairman of the NDLEA against his ministry.

    Mustapha declined to answer reporters’ questions on his mission although he posed for a photograph with his host.

    Joshua said: “I was arrested for investigation and it was later discovered that it was a tissue of lies. I spent nine days with them for investigation and they found the whole thing to be a fabrication. From there, I was taken to Aso Rock to see the president. It was there that I met Mustapha.

    “I was able to reveal to them who I am by telling them what was to come as a prophet. One of those things I mentioned to them, and to Mustapha in particular, was what he went through, though he did not believe me then. That was why when it came to pass, I was the first person he remembered. I told him that he would spend several years in prison and would be finally released which no one else had ever told him.

    “That is why you see him coming here as his first port of call. Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

     

  • Al – Mustapha: Is this justice ?

    Al – Mustapha: Is this justice ?

    The Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) hereby expresses its shock  and disappointment at the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, today, July 12, 2013, which overturned the Judgment of the High Court of Lagos State, which had found Major Hamza Al Mustapha, one time Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha (1994-1998), and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan guilty of the June 4, 1996 murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola in Lagos, during the reign of terror of General Sani Abacha, the late military Head of State of Nigeria.
    It will be recalled that Hon. Justice Mojisola Dada of the High Court of Lagos State, Igbosere Lagos, had on January 30, 2012, found both Major Hamza Al Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan guilty of the offences of conspiracy to murder and murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, contrary to 324 and 319 of the Criminal Code of Lagos State and accordingly had sentenced them to death by hanging. On that occasion, KIND issued a statement. The statement recalled the gruesome murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola in 1996 and the supreme sacrifice made by many other Nigerians, including Chief M.K.O Abiola and Pa Alfred Ogbeyiwa Rewane, to restore democracy to Nigeria. The statement then acknowledged the fact that the verdict issued by Mojisola Dada would bring closure to the children of Kudirat Abiola, the  M.K.O Abiola Family and Nigerians committed to justice.
    The finding and the reasoning of  Hon. Justice Mojisola Dada in her judgment was that the evidence of Barnabas Jabila ( a.k.a Sgt. Rogers) and that of Muhammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako), the two prosecution witnesses was credible, reliable, sufficient  and believable, and that the Court could safely convict  Major Hamza Al Mustpaha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan  on that evidence, regardless of the fact that during cross examination and re-examination, the two witnesses retracted their earlier given testimony and recanted. The Court found that retraction as an after-thought.

     

    Barnabas Jabila ( a.k.a Sgt. Rogers) and Muhammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako)  had, at the early stage of the trial testified that they were directed to murder Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, by Major Hamza Al Mustapha;  that they were given information on her movements by Alhaji Lateef Sofolahan; and that they, respectively, shot and killed Alhaji Kudirat Abiola and drove the Peugeot 504 Car, which they used in trailing her car and bolting away, after killing her at the  Cargo Vision Area of the Lagos end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, by the Toll Gate.
    The Court found that it was cogently, compellingly and irresistibly proved beyond reasonable doubt by the Prosecution that Major Hamza Al Mustapha was the person who procured Barnabas Jabila, the ‘Force striker’, to eliminate Alhaja Kudirat Abiola by direct instruction, handing over of the murder weapon, the UZI SMG with 9mm rounds with which she was assassinated in broad daylight on the streets of Lagos and who provided ‘the logistics’ for their movement from Abuja to Lagos by flight, their accommodation at his Lagos official residence at Dodan Barracks and linked them up with their contact person and facilitator, Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan.

     

    Today’s judgment of Hon Justice Amina A. Augie ( presiding justice of the Court of Appeal’s Panel), Hon. Justice Rita N. Pemu, and Hon. Justice Fatima O. Akinbami, reversing the judgment of Hon. Justice Mojisola Dada, has now discarded that Court’s findings and rejected the Court’s reasoning.
    KIND is informed that the grounds of the Court of Appeal’s decision included the “contradiction in the testimony of the Prosecution Witnesses”, the non-corroboration of their testimony, being co-accomplices; the non-adducing of medical evidence (including non-tendering of autopsy and ballistician report), the non-investigation of the crime by the Nigeria Police Force, which it is argued has the sole power to investigate the crime, instead of the hybrid Special Investigation Panel (SIP) and the non-calling of the Police to give evidence.
    While KIND will obtain this Judgment and commission a team of legal experts to study it in detail, with a view to determining whether a civil action is advisable at this point, KIND respectfully acknowledges but vehemently disagrees with the Judgment of the Court of Appeal.

     

    True, the Prosecution Witnesses recanted and alleged that they were tutored to frame up the accused person. The question is, why was their recantation more believable than their initial and original testimony?  Could Sgt Rogers, who was not put on trial, have killed Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on his own, without having been directed to do so; or was his confession a lie also?

    With this reversal, the Nigerian Judiciary has now exonerated ALL persons that were brought to trial for the gruesome acts of murders and attempted murders that took place during the Abacha regime (before now, the persons tried for the attempted assassinations of Alex Ibru and Pa Abraham Adesanya had been set free, Muhammed Abacha, General Ishaya Bamaiyi,  and the Police Officers, Alhaji Danbaba, and Rabo Lawal). Also, the men who were herded into Court for the assassination of Pa Alfred Rewane were released, for want of evidence.

     

    KIND notes that the Nigerian Judiciary was also unable to resolve the issue of who murdered, in December 2002, Chief Bola Ige, a sitting Attorney General of the Federation. and, indeed the husband of a then serving Justice of the Court of Appeal, Late Justice Atinuke Omobonike Ige. Is it that the Nigerian Judiciary is incapable of resolving cases of political murders and assassinations, or that the Nigerian State lacks the competence, capability or will to prosecute cases of political murders?

     

    KIND is of the view that justice has not been served by the Judgment of the Court of Appeal. KIND therefore calls on the Attorney-General of Lagos State to exercise his power over all public prosecution in Lagos State to appeal this verdict in the interest of the dead and the living.

    In making this call, KIND is not set on seeking vengeance or retribution. As an organization founded in honour of Kudirat Abiola, it, along with all well meaning Nigerians, seeks a final judicial resolution of the question, “who killed Kudirat Abiola?”

     

    Amy Oyekunle

    Executive Director

    KIND

    www.kind.org

     

  • Kudirat Abiola’s son kicks as Appeal Court frees Al-Mustapha, Sofolahan …14 years after

    Kudirat Abiola’s son kicks as Appeal Court frees Al-Mustapha, Sofolahan …14 years after

    Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sanni Abacha, was discharged and acquitted yesterday over the June 1996 murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola by the Appeal Court sitting in Lagos

    Also freed with him was his co-accused, Alhaji Lateef Sofolahan.

    Both of them were released from Kirikiri Maximum Prisons immediately after the judgment and they were driven away in an SUV.

    Their discharge, a year and seven months after they were sentenced to death by a Lagos High Court, was predicated on what the Appeal Court called lack of circumstantial evidence linking the duo with anyone for conspiracy to kill the wife of the late Chief M.K.O.Abiola.

    Reactions to their freedom were mixed with Kudiratu’s son,Abdul,calling the judgment “a stab in my heart,” while the founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC),Dr.Fredrick Fasehun, and former Police Commissioner in Lagos,Alhaji Abubakar Tsav,described it as justice at long last.

    In reversing the High Court judgment,the Appeal Court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the earlier verdict a dismay.

    Justice Rita Pemu, who read the lead judgment, held that there was no direct circumstantial evidence that Al-Mustapha conspired to murder Kudirat Abiola.

    The prosecution ,she said , failed to establish the charge of conspiracy and murder against the appellants, and described the 326-page judgment of the lower court as a dismay.

    Pemu held that it was foolhardy and unreasonable for the lower court to have so swiftly convicted the appellants when it was very evident that the prosecution had a bad case.

    She spoke of a huge shadow of doubt in the case of the prosecution which ought to be resolved in favour of the appellants, adding that the prosecution also failed to call witnesses to give evidence in the case based on investigation, but relied on evidence from contradictory and unsubstantiated statements of the star witnesses which were unreliable.

    Pemu said: “In a criminal trial, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt and this is a chain that cannot be broken.

    “The prosecution listed four witnesses PW 9, 10, 11 and 12 as witnesses which it intended to call in the trial to give evidence based on investigation, but never called any of them.

    “PW1 (Dr Ore Falomo) testified before the lower court that the bullet extracted from the forehead of the deceased was white and of a special kind, but the prosecution failed to tender the bullet as exhibit and this was fatal to their case.

    “The prosecution also called PW4 (Investigating Police officer) who investigated the death of the deceased, but after 12 months of examination in chief, this witness disappeared into the thin air and was never produced for cross-examination by the defence, as he never showed up in court. This rendered the evidence of the police officer inconclusive as it denied the defendants their right to fair hearing, and no reasonable court can safely make a conviction on such inconclusive testimony.

    “PW2 (Sgt. Rogers) and PW3( Mohammedd Abdul), in their confessional statements to the police, said they were enjoined by the first appellant to murder Kudirat, but this statement was later retracted by them in court.

    “They told the court that they were cajoled by the prosecution to indict the appellants, with a promise to give them material compensation (money, houses). This is a contradiction in the testimonies of the witnesses.It raises doubt in the case of the prosecution, and it is unimaginable that the lower court did not expunge this evidence.

    “For an offence like murder, I wonder why the Nigerian police did not do a proper investigation.

    “Jabila, who was initially arrested as a co-accused, was later called prosecution witness, witnesses who ought to be called were never called, the bullet extracted was never tendered before the court.

    “The prosecution’s case has gapy loopholes; there are more questions than answers.

    “Once there is doubt in the case of the prosecution, as in the instant case, it must be resolved in favour of the accused, and this doubt is accordingly resolved in favour of the appellants.

    “One thing is clear, Kudirat was shot, but the big question is who pulled the trigger? Certainly not the appellants. This court is not interested in the politics of the matter nor in sentiment.

    “There was no need for the trail judge to consider the politics of any party, she should have observed that the evidence was wishy-washy. She allowed herself to be caught up in the web of the conflict while the police allowed itself to be caught up in the web of injustice.

    “It is my view that the lower court left the matter to chase shadows. I find nothing in this case which sufficiently links the appellants with the commission of the offence. It is preposterous that in a 326-page judgment, the lower court was only concerned with securing a conviction at all cost.

    “Just as God is no respecter of person, so also is this court. I hereby order that the appellants be discharged and acquitted, while the conviction and sentence of the lower court is hereby set aside. The appeal is hereby allowed.

    “It is unfortunate that he has been incarcerated since 1998 on a baseless indictment without evidence.

    Presidng Justice Amina Augie and Justice Fatima Akinbami concurred with the lead judgment .

    The duo’s detention and trial lasted over 14 years.

    Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court had,on January 30 2012, found them guilty of conspiring to commit the offence.

    Al-Mustapha and Sofolahan approached the Appeal Court, contending that the death sentence handed down by the lower court was unwarranted, unreasonable and a manifest miscarriage of justice.

    Al-Mustapha’s relations and friends shouted “Al-Akbar” as the court delievered its verdict.

    Reacting to yesterday’s decision of the appeal court,son of the late Kudirat Abdul, said the judgement was like a stab in his heart.

    “I missed my mum as much as a little boy. This judgment is like a stab in my heart,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    “As a grown-up, I am no longer bitter, but the problem is that this might continue to happen to other people.This is an injustice in our system and I pray that our leaders should do the right thing,” he said.

    Retired Anglican Bishop of Akure Diocese, the Right Reverend Bolanle Gbonigi, urged restraint and advised Nigerians to examine the judgment carefully before passing comments.

    His words: “I have to be careful about my comments. The judges must have examined the arguments of both parties and looked into documents presented by the parties before passing their judgment. Judgments should not be based on sentiments. Though if you consider the terrible roles he played, you would want to fault the judgment. But judges don’t base their verdicts on sentiments.”

    Founder of the OPC, Dr. Fredrick Faseun, said the judgment was in order and should be commended. Faseun, who had publicly campaigned for Al-Mustapha’s release, said the judgment is proof that “Nigeria is emerging from the forest of lies and falsehood. The attribute that has kept a Nigerian in captivity for 14 years without charges has been broken.”

    Speaking in the same vein, former coach of the Golden Eaglets, Fanny Amu, said the ruling had rekindled his confidence in the country.

    He said: “Hamza Al-Mustapha’s release has reconfirmed my confidence in Nigeria. I have never lost hope in law and justice in this country. With the judgment by the three wise women, I will rather call them the three wise men, it further confirms to all that law still exists in this country. It shows that we cannot just do anything and expect to go scot-free with it.”

    Al-Mustapha’s elder brother, Bashiru Hamzat, said: “We have long seen the lapses and still do not know why the lower court entered that judgment. My brother has been incarcerated for 15 years, a lot of injustice has been done to him and our family, but we thank God some of us are alive today to witness this day.

    “I just hope that the Nigerian nation will look into situations like this and remedy it to ensure it does not happen to another Nigerian.”

    The National Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress, Otunba Gani Adams, condemned the Appeal Court ruling, describing it as a setback for democracy and justice in the country.

    “ I fear that rulings like this one may go a long way in creating the wrong impression in the minds of the ruling class that they can get away with anything. We condemn the ruling in its entirety,” Otunba Adams said.

    Alhaji Tsav was happy at the judgment saying: “Justice has taken its course. The man has suffered enough. The ruling is the right judgment that you should expect. The man who pulled the trigger is not standing trial, so what do you want to prove by prosecuting the wrong man.”

    Mr. Yinka Odumakin, spokesman for the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), described the judgment as a big blow to criminal justice in Nigeria.

    “After Al-Mustapha was duly convicted by a lower court, it is so painful that he has been acquitted,” Odumakin said.

    The state Chairman of the Civil Liberties Organisation, Mr Ehi Omokhuale, also described the judgment as unfortunate, while the President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, hailed it, saying it had renewed his hope and faith in Nigeria.

  • Lawyers react to Al-Mustapha, Shofolahan’s acquittal

    Several reactions on Friday trailed the acquittal of Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan for the alleged murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola by the Court of Appeal in Lagos.

    Mr. Fred Agbaje, a human rights activist, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the decision of the appellate court was not surprising.

    Agbaje said: “The level of evidence in that case left too many loopholes for the defence counsel to take advantages of and that is exactly what they have done.”

    According to him, the judgment has shown that there is no reasonable ground to detain Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan for almost 15 years.

    “It is good for the development of the rule of law in this country. The innocent shall not be unjustly punished. I hope the matter will now rest, except the Lagos State Government wants to pursue an appeal.

    “Lagos State must not only be ready to pay damages for unlawfully and unconstitutionally detaining and prosecuting an innocent citizen for 15 years, but must be ready as well to offer apology to Al-Mustapha and co,” Agbaje said.

    Also, a criminal defence lawyer, Mr. Yemi Omodele, said the judgment was a good development for both the bar and the bench.

    Omodele said: “Al-Mustapha has rightly exercised his constitutional right and he has got what he wants from the Court of Appeal.

    “If the prosecution is not satisfied with the decision, they can file an appeal at the Supreme Court.

    “But I believe that the appeal court’s judgment was very sound.”

    On his part, Mr. Onyekachi Ubani, Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, told NAN that the judgment was a temporary relief for Al-Mustapha.

    He said: “I am yet to be abreast of the reasons for the reversal of the judgment, but it is within the purview of the appeal court to review decision of a lower court.

    “It could be that they found out that the lower court erred either on the side of law or on the application of fact.

    “However, the government may appeal to the Supreme Court. So for now, it is a temporary relief for Al-Mustapha.”

    A constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), cautioned that there should be no impunity in the country.

    “That principle must be established in this country that anybody who infringes on a person’s right, particularly the right to life, must pay fully for it under the law.

    “That is what I want to say,” Sagay emphasised.

    Mr. Bamidele Aturu, a human rights activist, said he would need to thoroughly review the judgment before commenting on the merits or demerits of the decision.

     

     

     

  • Appeal Court frees Al-Mustapha

    Appeal Court frees Al-Mustapha

    The Court of Appeal, sitting in Lagos, on Friday discharged and acquitted Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, who was sentenced to death over the conspiracy and murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court had on January 30, 2012, sentenced Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan to death by hanging over the murder.

    Al-Mustapha was the former Chief Security Officer to the late Gen. Sani Abacha, while Shofolahan was an aide to the late Kudirat.

    Justice Rita Pemu, who read the lead judgment, said that the prosecution totally failed to establish the charge of conspiracy and murder against the appellants, including Shofolahan.

    She said that it was foolhardy and unreasonable for the lower court to have so swiftly convicted the appellants, when it was very evident that the prosecution had a bad case.

    Pemu held that there existed huge shadows of doubt in the case of the prosecution, which ought to be resolved in favour of the appellants.

    “In a criminal trial, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt and this is a chain that cannot be broken.

    “The prosecution listed four witnesses PW 9, 10, 11 and 12 as witnesses, which it intended to call in the trial, but never called any of them.

    “PW 1 (Dr. Ore Falomo) testified before the lower court that the bullet extracted from the forehead of the deceased, was white and of a special kind, but the prosecution failed to tender the bullet as an exhibit and this is fatal to their case.

    “The prosecution also called PW 4 (Investigating Police officer) who investigated the death of the deceased, but this witness was never produced for cross-examination by the defence, as he never showed up in court.

    “This renders the evidence of the police officer inconclusive as it denied the defendants their right to a fair hearing, and no reasonable court can safely make a conviction on such inconclusive testimony.

    “PW 2 (Sgt. Rogers) and PW 3(Mohammedd Abdul) in their confessional statements to the police said they were enjoined by the first appellant, to murder kudirat, but this statement was later retracted by them in court.

    “PW 2 and PW 3, in retracting their earlier statement to the police, told the court that they were cajoled by the prosecution to indict the appellant, with a promise to give them monetary compensation.

    “This is a contradiction in the testimonies of the witnesses, it raises doubt in the case of the prosecution, and it is unimaginable that the lower court did not expunge this evidence.

    “For an offence like murder, I wonder why the Nigerian police did not do a proper investigation.

    “Jabila, who was initially arrested as a co-defendant, was later called a prosecution witness; witnesses who ought to be called were never called, the bullet extracted was never tendered before the court.

    “Once there is doubt in the case of the prosecution, as in the instant case, it must be resolved in favour of the accused, and this doubt is accordingly resolved in favour of the appellants,’’ Pemu said.

    According to her, it is clear that Kudirat was shot, but the question is: who pulled the trigger?

     

  • Why death penalty can’t be abolished – AGF

    Why death penalty can’t be abolished – AGF

    The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), has given reasons why death penalty could not be abolished in the country for now.

    He said global debate on the desirability or otherwise, of its abolition has not assumed a momentum to command global agreement on death penalty abolition.

    Adoke spoke in Abuja on Thursday while featuring at this year’s “Ministerial Platform,” an opportunity provided by the Ministry of Information for Federal Government ministries and parastatals to showcase their achievements within the two years of this administration.

    He argued that even if death penalty was to be abolished, it should be done by the states, because most capital offences, attracting death sentences, are state offences.

    Adoke contended that since the country was a federation, the Federal Government could not compel states to do away with death penalty.

    He expressed optimism that when the time comes, the laws would be amended to provide an alternative to death penalty.

    On the complaint that the country’s court system was ineffective owning to the fact that its statute books were replete with obsolete laws, Adoke said efforts were ongoing to amend the nation’s laws.

    When asked to comment on the seeming unending trial of Major Hamza al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sani Abacha, the AGF said since the case was still in court, it would be inappropriate for him to comment on it.

    He noted that al-Mustapha was tried, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging under Lagos State laws and by the state’s High Court.

     

  • Al-Mustapha: Appeal Court reserves judgment

    The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, yesterday reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan, challenging the death sentence handed them by Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court.

    Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to the late Gen. Sani Abacha and Shofolahan, ex-Personal Assistant to Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, were sentenced to death on January 30 last year for conspiracy and murder of Alhaja Abiola.

    Justice Amina Augie, who led the appeal panel, reserved judgment after counsel to the appellants and respondent adopted their written briefs.

    Counsel to Al-Mustapha, Joseph Daudu (SAN), while adopting his address, urged the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court.

    He argued that the trial court erred in law by basing its judgment on the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses (PW1 and PW2), which were contradictory.

    “The testimonies of PW1 and PW2 were inconclusive and contradictory. The court drew inferences from these contradictory statements to establish the guilt of the appellant.

    “It is my submission that these inferences, upon which the court based its judgment, are merely political evidence formulated by the respondent, which the trial court ought not to have considered.

    “I, therefore, urge the court to allow this appeal and quash the judgment of the lower court,” Daudu said.

    Shofolahan’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, aligned with Daudu’s submission.

    He accused the trial judge of being patronising, adding that she discontenanced every submission put forward by the defence, while the evidence presented by the prosecution were admitted.

    He said: “It is obvious that the trial judge was sourcing for evidence at all cost to convict the appellant.

    “The evidence of the star witnesses PW1 and PW2 had been described as not credible by the Court of Appeal. So, I wonder why the trial court held that the evidence were relevant.”

    Counsel to the state government, Lawal Pedro (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgment of the lower court.

    He argued that besides the evidence of PW1 and PW2, there were other evidence from the defendants, which supported the counts of conspiracy and murder.

    He said the statements of the defendants, which were tendered as exhibits, indicted them.

    Pedro urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit.

    The appellants were arraigned in October 1999 on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy and murder of Abiola, the winner of the June 12, 1993 election, in 1996 in Lagos. They were sentenced to death by hanging.

    They appealed against the lower court’s judgment 24 hours after it was passed, praying the court to overturn it.

    The appellants contended that the death sentence was unwarranted, unreasonable and a manifest miscarriage of justice.

    They argued that the trial judge erred in law by concluding that they conspired to kill Alhaja Abiola on June 4, 1996.

    The appellants faulted the judge’s treatment of the contradictory statements of Barnabas Jabila (aka Sgt. Rogers) and Mohammed Abdul.

    They also faulted the court’s reliance on the testimony of Dr. Ore Falomo on the bullet extracted from the deceased.

    According to the appellants, the court’s rejection of portions of Jabila’s testimony, which favoured them and applying only in areas that did not favour them was a gross miscarriage of justice.

    Al-Mustapha submitted four grounds for determination. Shofolahan premised his appeal on five points.

     

  • Appeal Court reserves judgment on Al Mustapha’s appeal

    Appeal Court reserves judgment on Al Mustapha’s appeal

    The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, on Monday reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan, challenging a death sentence handed them by Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja.

    Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late General Sanni Abacha, and Shofolahan former Personal Assistant to Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, were sentenced to death on January 30, 2012, for conspiracy and murder of the late Mrs. Abiola.

    Justice Amina Augie, who led the appeal panel, reserved judgment, after counsels to the appellants and respondent adopted their written briefs.

    Counsel to Al-mustapha, Joseph Daudu (SAN), while adopting his address, urged the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court.

    He argued that the trial court erred in law to have based its judgment on the testimonies of prosecution witnesses (PW1 and PW2), which were contradictory.

    “The testimonies of PW1 and PW2 were inconclusive and contradictory. The court drew inferences from these contradictory statements, to establish the guilt of the appellant.

    “It is my submission that those inferences, upon which the court based its judgment, are merely political evidence formulated by the respondent, and which the trial court ought not to have considered.

    “I therefore urge the court to allow this appeal, and quash the judgment of the lower court” Daudu said.

    Lawyer to Shofolahan, Olalekan Ojo, also aligned with the submission of Daudu.

    In his response, counsel to the state government, Lawal Pedro (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the appeal and uphold the judgment of the lower court.

    Pedro argued that apart from the evidence of PW1 and PW2, there were other evidences from the defendants themselves, which supported the counts of conspiracy and murder.

    He said the statements of the defendants, which were tendered as exhibits, indicted them.

    Pedro urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit.