At last, Major Hamza Al Muatapha gained his freedom after 14 years of detention and legal battle. He was on death row for one year. His ordeal bordered on his alleged role in the controversial murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of the deceased acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola . How and why did he secure his freedom? What are the political and security implications for the North and the 2015 elections in Nigeria? - By Lateef Bamgbose
At last, Major Hamza Al Muatapha is recent release by the appeal court former chief security officer, is one of Nigeria’s most controversial and He was the former Chief Security Officer to late General Sani Abacha, former Head of State lengthy legal battles. But after 14 years in detention and one year on death row, the once fearsome CSO stormed out of the prison and tasted the unbelievable fresh air of freedom that many people take for granted. The weight of psychic trauma cast on him by the tightly guarded enclosure of prison environment was rolled away.
From serving and retired generals, former heads of state, powerful politicians to technocrats, who did not know the dreaded Al Mustapha, the monstrous shadow around which the dark, deadly regime of General Abacha was built? Under the regime of General Abacha, Nigeria was on its knees at the behest of state terror said to have been coordinated by Major Al-Mustapha. A deadly Strike Force was effectively on ground to effect the terror agenda of the regime, which was characterised by killings of those in opposition to the regime.
Al Mustapha was arrested and detained alongside other suspects for their alleged roles in the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and the attempted murder of Alex Ibru, the publisher of The Guardian newspaper. But at about 11:30 a.m., last week Friday, Justice Rita Pemu of Lagos High Court dismissed the charges of conspiracy and murder against Major Al Mustapha, discharged and acquitted the former chief security officer.
Indeed, Al Mustapha’s freedom had been expected since last May when Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the lead judge of the Court of Appeal in Lagos withdrew from the appeal instituted by Al-Mustapha, citing personal reasons. But sources told this magazine that he was miffed by high level interference in the case from interested quarters.
In fact, following the withdrawal of Justice Saulawa, before the court registrar could announce the next adjourning date for the appearance of the plaintiff, the former president of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Joseph Daudu (SAN) had announced his appearance for Major Al Mustapha. With a shark-like appetite for the takeover of controversial and delicate briefs, Mr. Daudu quietly took over the brief with Justice Amina Augie of the Appeal Court as the lead judge in the case.
Thus on June 10, Justice Augie took the briefs of Mr. Daudu and reserved her ruling on the matter indefinitely. The withdrawal of Justice Saulawa generated ripples among interested parties and observers in the judiciary who have been following the Al-Muatapha’s case. Insiders who should know hinted immediately that Al Mustapha could start composing his song of freedom; an end to his protracted legal battle was in the offing.
A source in judicial administration that was privy to the controversies told this magazine on condition of anonymity: “The combination of Joseph Daudu (SAN) and Justice Augie seems targeted at saving the former chief security officer and possibly free him of culpability.” He explained strings of allegations that discredited judgments of this kind, especially those directly linked to these men.
Mr. Daudu is not a stranger to handling controversial cases such as Al Mustapha’s. He was the prosecutor alleged to have been handpicked by the Abacha regime who served in the “kangaroo trial” of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight Ogoni activists, leading to the hanging of the environmental activist on November 10, 1998.
Both Daudu and Augie were later involved in the controversy to free former Delta State governor, James Ibori, from his corruption trial in Kaduna in 2008. As the lead judge in the Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal, it was Augie who ruled that the former governor be returned for trial in the jurisdiction where he committed the offence of fraud, his home state.
This ruling later paved way for the Delta State government and the Federal High Court headed by Justice Marcel Awokulehin to exonerate Ibori of all 170 charges of corruption filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Ibori then became a free man and was forced to account for his crimes after he fled to Dubai from where he was extradited to the United Kingdom for trial.
It was speculated that to forestall possible humiliation of the Court of Appeal, Justice Augie was posted ahead to Benin Division to deliver Ibori, before the former governor slipped away to Dubai.
The former CSO and James Ibori served Abacha’s regime. After Al Mustapha was arrested and detained for murder, Ibori was said to have taken over the up keep of his family while he was governor of Delta State.
The bizarre nature of the current trajectory of the Al-Muatapha case was explained by our judicial administrative source when he said, “it was the defence counsel, Mr. Daudu, when he represented the son of the late dictator, Mohammed Abacha, in the case during the Olusegun Obasanjo years that pleaded before the Supreme Court that Major Al-Muatapha was the person responsible for Alhaja Kudirat’s death.”
At that time, Daudu was serving as counsel to Mohammed Abacha. The five-man panel, then headed by Justice Alpha Belgore, later ruled thus: “The mere presence of Mohammed Abacha at the time that Al Mustapha handed guns for the alleged killing of Kudirat, wife of the late Chief MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12 presidential election, was not sufficient reason to find him guilty.” Mohammed was set free leaving Al Mustapha to carry the cross alone.
However, a minority ruling by Justice Akinlola Olufemi Ejiwunmi described the majority ruling by Belgore as “tyranny of majority. It held that Mohammed Abacha gave the killers of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola $10 each to flee the country and he ought to be held culpable.” During the cross examination of one of the witnesses, Sergeant Roger, he confessed at the Oputa Panel that it was Al Mustapha who killed Alhaja Abiola.
Al- Mustapha was the CSO to Abacha from November 1993 -1998. He was arrested after the death of Abacha by General Abdulsalam’s administration. He was tried for murder of Alhaja Abiola by a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere, presided over by Justice Mojisola Dada, who convicted him on January 30, 2012, for the killing of Alhaja Abiola. He was also sentenced to death by hanging but was discharged and acquitted of the crimes by the Appeal Court on July 12, 2013.
The appeal court ruled that there was not enough evidence to incriminate Al Mutapha in the murder of Alhaja Abiola. The five-man panel accused the lower court of being “stroke to secure judgement by all means.”
Therefore Al-Mustapha was set free. Dr. Fredrick Faseun, the founder of the Oduduwa Peoples’ Congress, OPC, a group that has been at the forefront for the release of Al Mustapha, has not only hailed the judgement of the appeal court but wants the National Judicial Commission, NJC, to review the trial of Al Mustapha and if possible apply sanctions on the trial judges who had kept Al Mustapha behind bars for 14 years.
“I am vindicated. I know Al-Muatapha neither ordered nor had a hand in the killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and that is why I stood by him. I commend the judgment by the Court of Appeal. I commend the courage which it displayed in the face of the daunting politics and powerful interests who wanted Al-Mustapha hanged by all means. People used to tell me, they couldn’t understand why I would be going to court in support of an officer who served in a regime that detained me for almost three years, but I told them I have lived my entire life based on the principle of justice. And I will still protest injustice being done even to my enemy,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “It beats my imagination that all prosecution witnesses confessed in open court that they had been forced to lie against Al Mustapha, yet, he was sentenced to death. The former chief security officer to former Nigeria ruler and his family must find in their hearts to forgive collectively.”
On his part, Mr. Fred Agbaje, a human rights activist, told the magazine that, “the decision of the Appeal Court was not surprising. The level of evidence in the 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 judgement has shown that there is no reasonable ground to detain Al-Mustapha and Sofolahan for almost 15 years.”
As for Femi Fani Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, during the President Olusegun Obasanjo era, “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 if the Lagos State Government wants to pursue an appeal.” He commended the court of appeal for doing “what is right. I congratulate Major Al-Mustapha,” he said.
A constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay (SAN), cautioned that “there should not be 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 all I have to say,” Sagay emphasised.
The National Forum of Christians and Moslem Youths, NAFCAMY, a group that has been canvassing for the release of Major A-Muatapha, over the weekend, in an interview with this magazine, commended President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing justice to prevail in the trial.
The president of the Forum, Mallam Ibrahim Yusuf, said “President Jonathan has demonstrated his penchant for the rule of law. Under Obasanjo and Yar’Adua, it couldn’t have been possible because of the high level conspiracy from the northern leaders. It was too glaring that they want this man dead. The silence of the northern elders and political leaders on Al Mustapha’s travails while the likes of the Oduduwa Peoples’ Congress, OPC and Dr. Faseun chose to stick their necks out for him has further exposed them,” he said.
Yusuf added: “While Al Mustapha was in detention, everything humanly possible was done to liquidate whatever he left behind by the same northern leaders. Even his children’s school results were seized by General Abdulsalam, while Mallam Nasir el-Rufai as FCT Minister revoked all his landed property in the FCT, yet, these are the people fighting for the north,” he lamented.
Beyond the frenetic euphoria that characterised his welcome train in Kano and other places, the release of Al Mustapha may have radically altered the political and social structure of the North.
This magazine gathered that his release sent a wave of shock across the region, especially among the political mafia that has dominated the politics of the region in the past decades because it was unanticipated. Prior to the release of Al-Mustapha, the Northern Region was dominated by three political blocs, namely: General Ibrahim Babangida/General Abdulsalami Abubakar; the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the mainstream Arewa group, propelled by Arewa Consultative Forum and the Northern Elders Forum with the support of the opposition. The three blocs will now contend with a new bloc led by Al-Mustapha.
Al-Mustapha pointed at the old blocs, namely IBB/Abdulsalami, PDP, and the Northern mainstream, throughout his 14 years in detention, accusing them of being the force behind his travail.
Obviously, Al-Mustapha seems to have built a massive political base across the Northern states, especially among the youth groups. Apart from mobilising for his release, they mounted media podiums and took over streets fighting against what they called the system of injustice that had kept him in jail that long.
There is also fear, especially as the old allies of the late General Abacha, some of who benefited massively from the regime, are reported to be dusting up from their low profile position. Our investigation has revealed that he may not align with any of the old political groups in the North. The reason for this is not far-fetched because they are led by leaders he accused several times of persecuting him due to politics of Abacha era. “He may not support any political party which Babangida and Abdulsalam belong,” Yusuf told the magazine.
As expected, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has rejected the Court of Appeal’s ruling that let Al-Mustapha off the hook saying it was a miscarriage of justice. Joe Igbokwe, the Lagos State spokesperson of ACN in a statement in Lagos said the party rejects the Court of Appeal judgement.
Perhaps, the most important political significance of Al Mustapha’s release is linked to the presidential election in 2015. Political analysts are already interpreting the judgment as capable of enhancing the political base of President Jonathan in the North. While the judgement is seen as purely based on legal consideration, there are indications that Al-Mustapha may pitch his tent with the Pro-Jonathan forces in the North in order to liquidate the influence of the anti- Jonathan forces, especially in the North-East and North-West where General Buhari’s political machinery is sturdily on ground.
Al-Mutapha had always maintained that his trial was compounded by those who believe he knows too much about the circumstances that surrounded the death of Chief MKO Abiola, who died in detention under General Abdulsalami.
Hours after his release, Al-Mustapha, the high profile intelligence officer, became the new political bride and a rallying point for political actors who see in him a fresh hope for Northern youths in the diluted political hegemony of the old Arewa (North). Due to his enormous influence during the dark days of the Abacha regime, an air of anxiety overwhelms the North. The political bloc built around the former CSO while in detention has begun work in anticipation of a certain agenda Al-Mustapha may launch in the count down to 2015. Even while in detention, he was rumoured to have had his eyes on the governorship of Yobe State.
However, Al-Mustapha was quick to clear the air of his political ambition in Kano penultimate Sunday at the reception organised for him by Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso: “I am still in service of the Nigerian Army. I am not going into politics as being speculated,” he said.
This magazine learnt that the release of the former CSO has created tension in the security circle, particularly in the Nigerian Army. According to a top security source who did not want his name in print, “Major Al-Mustapha’s mates in the army, navy and air force are now brigadier generals, so where is he going to serve? Except he is promoted three steps, which of course may not be possible, because he has not undergone any military training in the last 14 years,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Army Headquarters last Tuesday debunked the rumours making the rounds that Al-Mustapha may be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. It however confirmed that Major Al-Mustapha is still in the service of the Nigerian Army.
Brigadier General Ibrahim Attahiru, director of Nigerian Army Directorate of Public Relations said, “The Nigerian Army has rules and regulations that guide its conducts and personnel. Why is the media being sensational about Al-Mustapha’s service? All matters concerning personnel are administratively handled,” he said.
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