By Adesina Soyooye
The children of Kudirat Abiola, the murdered wife of the equally late Chief MKO Abiola, presumed winner of the 1993 Presidential race, have reacted angrily to the interview granted to Sahara Reporters, by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha to the effect that he had no hand in the murder of their mother.
Al-Mustapha was the very powerful Chief Security Officer of late Head of State, General Sani Abacha whose word was law, and who was very much feared.
Mrs Abiola was struggling for, and fighting for the release of her husband who was arrested, detained and being prosecuted by the Military Regime for demanding for his Presidential mandate freely given to him by Nigerians.
On June 4, 1996, while her husband was still under the regime’s detention, Kudirat was shot dead in the streets of Lagos.
Accusing fingers were pointed at Sergeant Jabilla Mshiola (aka Sgt Rogers) who was said to be the Chief marksman for a killer squad allegedly under Al-Mustapha.
Sgt Rogers appeared before the Justice Oputa Panel and implicated Al-Mustapha. He said he was the one who gave them the order to kill Mrs Abiola.
Al-Mustapha was arrested, prosecuted by a Lagos High Court, found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. But the Court of Appeal set him free.
In interview he just granted Sahara Reporters, Al-Mustapha, who is now the Presidential candidate of the Action Alliance, AA, denied any connection with Kudirat’s murder. He said it was Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the time, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, who tutored and coerced Sgt. Rogers to implicate him at the Oputa Panel in 1998.
Rogers had admitted before the Panel to being one of those who killed Kudirat, but on Al-Mustapha’s orders.
But Mrs Abiola’s children, in a release on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, signed by one of them, Khafila Abiola, insisted that Al-Mustapha was responsible for the murder of their mother.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a recent statement made by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.
“In it, he accused the current Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN, of instigating Sergeant Rogers to falsely claim that he, Al-Mustapha, was behind the assassination of our mother, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
“First of all, we all watched the proceedings of the Oputa Panel where Sergeant Rogers freely stated that he assassinated our mother and attempted to murder Senator Abraham Adesanya and Chief Alex Ibru, late Publisher of The Guardian newspaper, based on the instructions given to him by Major Al-Mustapha.
“The evidence of Sergeant Rogers was not challenged by Al-Mustapha and his lawyers at the Oputa Panel.
“Second, the Lagos High Court convicted and sentenced the armed agents of Al-Mustapha to imprisonment for the attempted murder of Senator Abraham Adesanya.
“Third, the Lagos State High Court also convicted and sentenced Al-Mustapha and his accomplices to death for the cold-blooded murder of our mother.
“Their subsequent acquittal by the Court of Appeal was most likely politically motivated. The appeal filed against the judgment is currently pending at the Supreme Court.”
“Al- Mustapha is counting on the pervasive culture of impunity in Nigeria to not only attempt to deny his dastardly role in the assassination of our mother, but to, also, now contemplate running for office, along with Mohammed Abacha, who was alleged to have provided his driver to convey the assassins to carry out the mission.
“Impunity lays waste to the promise of the democracy for which our dear mother paid the ultimate price. As those that oversaw her assassination now seek to rewrite the history of what they did, we are forced to seek justice for our beloved mother within a jurisdiction not susceptible to the political games that hold sway in Nigeria. Justice may be delayed but it must not be denied.”
