Kudirat Abiola: Supreme Court affirms Al-Mustapha’s acquittal

The Supreme Court has formally drawn the final curtain on the decades-long legal battle surrounding the assassination of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, dismissing the appeal filed by the Lagos State Government against the acquittal of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd).

In a unanimous ruling delivered on Thursday, a five-member panel of the apex court held that the Lagos State Government had effectively abandoned its appeal against Al-Mustapha’s 2013 acquittal by failing to take any meaningful legal action for over nine years.

Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, had faced trial alongside Lateef Shofolahan for the brutal killing of Kudirat Abiola.

The wife of the winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, was gunned down in Lagos on June 4, 1996, at the height of the struggle for the restoration of democracy.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Uwani Aba-Aji rebuked the Lagos State Government for its inexcusable inaction.

The court observed that despite being granted permission in 2014 to file a notice of appeal, the state prosecutors failed to file the necessary processes or engage with the court, leaving the matter dormant for nearly a decade.

During the proceedings, counsel to Al-Mustapha, Mr. Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the state’s conduct demonstrated a clear lack of interest in the diligent prosecution of the case.

He urged the court to dismiss the appeal on the grounds of abandonment, arguing that the prolonged silence was unfair to the defendant who had already been discharged by a lower court.

The Supreme Court agreed with the defence, ruling that nine years was more than ample time for the state to act.

Consequently, the panel held that the failure to utilize the window of appeal justified the dismissal. A related appeal filed by the state was also struck out on the same grounds.

The ruling effectively upholds the 2013 decision of the Court of Appeal, which overturned the death sentence initially passed by the Lagos High Court and acquitted Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan citing weak and unreliable evidence.

With this Supreme Court judgment, all legal avenues to reopen the case have been exhausted, closing the judicial file on the assassination nearly 30 years after the tragic event.