Court Reserves Judgment On Al-Mustapha’s Appeal!

The Court of Appeal in Lagos, on Monday reserved judgment in the appeal filed by former Chief Security Officer to Gen Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan, challenging the death sentence a Lagos State High Court pronounced on them in January 2012.

Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court found them guilty on charges of conspiracy and being the masterminds of the murder of the late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of late Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. Both men were subsequently convicted and sentenced to death by hanging over the June 4, 1996 murder.

They have however approached the Appeal Court with claims that the death sentence passed on them by the lower court was unwarranted, unreasonable and a manifest miscarriage of justice, arguing that the trial judge erred in law by arriving at the conclusion that they conspired to kill Alhaja Kudirat on June 4, 1996.

In their appeal, the appellants also went on to fault the judge’s treatment of the contradictory statements of Barnabas Jabila (better known as Sergeant. Rogers) and Mohmamed Abdul, as well as the reliance on the testimony of Dr. Ore Falomo on the bullet extracted from the deceased’s body.

StreetJournal