Supreme court strikes out Lagos appeal in Kudirat Abiola murder case

The Supreme Court has struck out the appeal filed by the Lagos State Government to revive the murder trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, over the killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

Kudirat Abiola was the wife of the late businessman and politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election. She was killed in Lagos during the unrest that followed the annulment while advocating for the validation of her husband’s mandate.

On Thursday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, struck out the appeal, thereby ending the prosecution against Al-Mustapha. The court held that Lagos State failed to take any steps to prosecute the appeal despite being granted leave to do so.

At the hearing, Lagos State was not represented by counsel and had filed no court processes, despite an order granted in 2014 allowing the state to re-open the case. When the matter was called, counsel to Al-Mustapha, Mr. Paul Daudu, SAN, informed the court that the state had not complied with the order.

Daudu told the court that Lagos State failed to file a notice of appeal within the 30-day period directed by the Supreme Court in 2014 and had taken no steps to prosecute the appeal more than nine years later.

Read also; The night MKO Abiola died

He therefore urged the court to hold that the appeal had been abandoned.

Justice Aba-Aji asked whether hearing notices had been served on Lagos State, and the Registrar of the court confirmed that service had been effected.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court held that Lagos State had lost interest in the case and abandoned the appeal. Justice Aba-Aji noted that nine years was sufficient time for the appellant to have filed both a notice and brief of appeal.

The court also expressed concern over the absence of legal representation for the state and the lack of any explanation, despite evidence that hearing notices had been served since 2020.

Accordingly, the appeal marked SC/CR/45/2014 was struck out. A related appeal filed by the Lagos State Governor, marked SC/CR/6/2014, arising from the same case, was also dismissed on the same grounds.

In 2014, the Supreme Court granted Lagos State permission to appeal out of time against the July 12, 2013 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha of the murder charge.

That decision was delivered by a seven-member panel led by the then Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who ordered the state to file its notice of appeal within 30 days. The application was argued by a Senior State Counsel from the Lagos Ministry of Justice and was not opposed by Al-Mustapha’s counsel.

The ruling extended the time for Lagos State to challenge the Court of Appeal judgment, which had overturned the January 30, 2012 decision of the Lagos State High Court sentencing Al-Mustapha and his co-defendants to death.

Lagos State sought to set aside the appellate court’s decision and restore the death sentence imposed by Justice Moji Dada of the Lagos High Court.

Al-Mustapha, Mohammed Abacha, and Lateef Shofolahan were arraigned on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and murder in connection with the killing of Mrs. Abiola on June 4, 1996.

However, the Court of Appeal, in its judgment of July 12, 2013, set aside their conviction, holding that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to sustain the sentence.