Nigeria’s Supreme Court of Nigeria has formally brought to an end the decades-long legal proceedings against Hamza Al-Mustapha, the retired major who once served as chief security officer to former military ruler Sani Abacha.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, a five-member panel of justices led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji dismissed the attempt by the Lagos State Government to revive the murder trial relating to the killing of Kudirat Abiola, wife of late democracy icon MKO Abiola.
Okay News reports that the ruling effectively closes one of Nigeria’s most politically sensitive criminal cases, nearly three decades after Kudirat Abiola was assassinated in Lagos in June 1996, during the unrest that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
The Supreme Court struck out the matter after finding that Lagos State had failed to take any concrete legal steps to pursue its appeal since it was granted permission in 2014 to challenge Al-Mustapha’s acquittal by the Court of Appeal. When the case was called, no representative appeared for the state government, and no appeal documents had been filed for more than nine years.
Counsel to Al-Mustapha informed the court that Lagos State ignored the 30-day deadline given in 2014 to file its notice of appeal and had shown no intention of prosecuting the matter. Court records confirmed that the state had been duly served with hearing notices but still failed to act.
In a brief ruling, the justices agreed that the prolonged inaction amounted to abandonment of the case. The court described the absence of legal representation and failure to file any process as unacceptable, noting that nine years was more than sufficient time to pursue an appeal if the state was serious.
As a result, the Supreme Court dismissed both the main appeal and a related application filed by the Lagos State governor, bringing final closure to the litigation.
The background to the case dates back to January 2012, when a Lagos High Court sentenced Al-Mustapha and two others to death for conspiracy and murder. However, in July 2013, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction, ruling that the evidence presented did not justify a death sentence and acquitting the accused.
