Yesterday, Monday 30th of January, the Lagos High Court sentenced Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the chief security of officer to the late Head of State General Sani Abacha and a former aide to chief M.K.O Abiola, Lateef Sofolahan to death by hanging, after finding them guilty for the murder of Kudirat Abiola in 1996.Judge Mojisola Dada ruled that the prosecution had proved its case for conspiracy and murder against the two accused persons who have been on trial since 1999. Major Al-Mustapha and Sofolahan can appeal their convictions at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, so the sentence of death by hanging does not have to be carried out immediately. Predictably, major Al-Mustapha said the court’s verdict was a conspiracy against him, and was not based on the evidence before the court. His lawyer also rejected the judgement and said he would appeal against it.
The judgement of the Lagos High Court will bring one chapter in the long-drawn saga of major Al-Mustapha to a close, but it is by no means the end of this tragic drama. Since the commencement of the prosecution of major Al-Mustapha and Sofolahan, the trial has been a lot more than a legal and judicial process. In the 13 years during which Al-Mustapha has been in detention, the nation has been treated to a drama that reminded it of a very sad chapter in its history, as well as the limitations of its judicial system. Major Al-Mustapha has never been removed from the powerful position he occupied as General Abacha’s CSO; and he has always insisted that he was a victim of a conspiracy by very powerful people to cover up the killings of Abacha and Abiola.
The killing of Kudirat Abiola had shocked the nation, at a time when it appeared that the Abacha administration was involved in organized killings of prominent members of the opposition. Many other prominent people, including chieftains of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) had either fled, or been killed in suspicious circumstances. Not long after the death of Abacha, Al-Mustapha and the infamous strike force under his control began to have accusing fingers pointed at them over killings and attempted murders and arson as part of the efforts to eliminate the opposition to Abacha.
Since the trial commenced, the judicial process has been severely stretched and challenged both by Al-Mustapha’s determination to fight for his freedom, and by the insistence of the Federal Government, Lagos State Government and some powerful political interests to see that he is convicted. Every trick in the book has been thrown at judges, courts and the Nigerian public. The result, sadly, has been that the trial appeared increasingly less to do with the law, and everything to do with politics. Al-Mustapha tapped into a vast sympathetic sentiment which saw his trial as politically motivated and unjust. On the other hand, his prosecutors played their own ethno-cultural cards, generating much support from people who wanted Al-Mustapha punished as a symbol of impunity and a past which needed to be brought to its knees. Many relatively independent Nigerians lamented the manner a judicial system could be so openly abused and sacrificed on the alter of narrow politics. They agonized over how long the trial took. They complained over seeming weaknesses of a system which will keep a citizen in detention for 13 years while he was being tried. And they worried over the widespread feeling among Nigerians that the trial of al-Mustapha was creating massive regionalised sentiments, and in the end, the verdict of the Court was likely to be seen as political, and not judicial.
Now that the High Court has pronounced Al-Mustapha guilty, the arguments over the justice of the trial will intensify. Many Nigerians will find much to complain over a judicial system that keeps a citizen in detention for 13years, and then sentences him to death by hanging in the end. Many more will raise their voice against the allegations of conspiracy against al-Mustapha, and will intensify their demand for justice outside the judicial system for him. On the other hand, there will be much rejoicing in some quarters over Al-Mustapha’s conviction, among those who have always believed that he was guilty. There will be many who will say that it is not how long it takes for justice to be served; but whether it is served in the end.
The trial of Al-Mustapha had put the judicial process in the dock as well, and it is by no means a clean acquittal for it that he has been found guilty. A judicial process that leaves people to think that it is incapable of delivering justice because it has been compromised by political considerations cannot generate support from the people it is meant to serve. On the other hand, even those who will rejoice at the conviction of major Al-Mustapha will prefer that he was convicted only for murder, and that his trial is not hijacked by shadowy political interests.
At this stage, it is important to remember that there is a long way to go before major Al-Mustapha exhausts the entire judicial process in his defence. While this will be little comfort for him, his family and many supporters, it must be acknowledged that this right to explore the entire process, which could take many years, is part of the very judicial process that many of his supporters condemn. It may also be useful to remind his supporters that their insistence on his freedom and an end to his trial before this conviction was largely responsible for the insistence by the government and a section of the public that his prosecution must be logically concluded.
For now, Al-Mustapha has the right to continue to pursue his freedom, which he says he will. The trial has polarised sections of the country, and there are very strongly-held views regarding the justice and propriety of his trial on both sides. Many of the sentiments around the trial have deep roots in ethnic politics, and Al-Mustapha himself says he has many enemies in powerful position. The nation cannot afford to add a major fallout along ethno-cultural lines from Al-Mustapha’s trial to its current legion of political and security problems. If the appal process is the only route available to Al-Mustapha, now that he is a convict, it is important to demand that it does not drag in the same way as the trial did.
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