15th July, 2013
Nigerians have continued to express outrage over the recent Appeal Court judgement which discharged and acquitted Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan, two people accused of masterminding the assassination of Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, wife of Chief MKO Abiola, acclaimed winner of the 12 June, 1993 presidential election.
The Afenifere Renewal Group, ARG, a Yoruba socio-political group, while condemning the judgement in a statement made available to P.M.NEWS, reminded the public that no one would escape the judgement of God.
“We of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) continue to wonder whether the justice administration system in Nigeria is fostering the cause of strong nationhood. Now that the Appeal Court has pronounced Al-Mustapha innocent, we can as well say the late despotic ruler, Sani Abacha, under whom Al-Mustapha served as Chief Security Officer, did no evil and therefore should never again be spoken ill of.
“It is also instructive that no one has been pronounced guilty of any of the numerous high profile murders in this country, which makes it difficult not to believe that Nigeria’s justice administration system is not skewed against the poor and ordinary citizens languishing in our prisons for frivolous charges.
“One is being forced to believe that justice in Nigeria is defined by influence and power instead of equality before the law,” ARG said through its Publicity Secretary, Kunle Famoriyo.
It said the Oputa Panel was only good for the media frenzy it created and did nothing to make Nigerians forget evils of the past in order to forge ahead as one true nation.
“We are of the opinion that building a just society is even far more important than any form of development and it is the reason we have been sounding the gong for the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference, without which true and lasting peace may remain elusive to us, cutting us short of attaining our full potential.
“Kudirat Abiola walked a golden path and left an enviable legacy. Had her husband, the late Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, been allowed to rule according to the June 12 mandate, she would have dignified First Lady office and would have undoubtedly used it to defend human rights.”
In his reaction, Abdul Abiola, son of the deceased, described the judgement as a stab in the heart.
“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.
Yinka Odumakin, spokesman of Save Nigeria Group, SNG, said: “after Al-Mustapha was duly convicted by a lower court, it is so painful that he has been acquitted.”
Mrs. Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, wife of Chief MKO Abiola, also rejected the judgement wondering what evidence the Appeal Court based its judgement on.
Former personal aide to Chief Abiola, Olu Akerele, said he was sure the evidence was deliberately tampered with in favour of the accused.
To him, “enemies of Chief Abiola and the nation’s progress may be rejoicing now that the suspects have taken advantage of a lacuna in the justice system to be set free, but they shall surely stand before the Lord in final judgment. The case was dragged for 14 years by al-Mustapha’s lawyers in a bid to frustrate the entire justice system to a point where even the public lost interest in the trial to allow for muddle ups,” Akerele, who was in prison for 18 months under the Abacha regime, said.
National Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Gani Adams, said the judgement was an encouragement for evil doers in the country.
“This judgment will in no small measure discourage the will of Nigerians to stand against injustice and oppression in Nigeria.”
Professor Itse Sagay, contitutional lawyer, “the 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.”
Ladi Rotimi-Williams, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said: “I don’t know how they arrived at their conclusion. The law is an ass, I must say. It is surprising; very surprising and shocking. I believe the state will appeal that judgement. The facts are there.”
The Lagos State Government, through the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, said it was still studying the judgement and would decide once it obtains a copy of the judgement from the Appeal Court.
The Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, KIND, while rejecting the judgement of the Appeal Court through a statement released by its Executive Director, Amy Oyekunle, said it was both disappointing and shocking.
The organisation, established by Kudirat Abiola-Costello, the late Kudirat’s daughter, recalled that, “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,” adding that the lower court which had earlier sentenced them relied on this and many other evidences.
It described the judgement of Hon Justice Amina A. Augie who presided over the appeal, as well as Justice Rita N. Pemu, Justice Fatima O. Akinbami, as not fair enough.
“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 ballistic 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.”
—Kazeem Ugbodaga & Eromosele Ebhomele