Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Lagos asks Supreme Court To uphold Al-Mustapha’s Death Sentence

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Friday, November 04, 2016

Lagos asks Supreme Court To uphold Al-Mustapha’s Death Sentence

The Lagos State government has asked the Supreme Court to set aside the July 12, 2013 judgment of the Court of Appeal which discharged and acquitted Major Hamza Al-Mustapha of the the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.


Kudirat was a wife of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola.

In place of the Appeal Court judgment, the Lagos State government urged the apex court to uphold and restore the death sentence by hanging, which was earlier placed on the former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, by a Lagos High Court on January 30, 2012.


Al-Mustapha, Mohammed Abacha and one Lateef Shofolahan were arraigned before a Lagos High Court on a two-count criminal charge of conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of the Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996 in Lagos State.

In the High Court judgment delivered in 2012 by Justice Moji Dada, the accused persons were found culpable as charged and sentenced to death by hanging.
The judgment was later set aside in April 2012 by the Court of Appeal, for the review of the trial and the conviction. The three Appellate Court justices, in a unanimous judgment, not only voided the decision of the High Court, they went further to discharge and acquit the accused on the ground that the evidence against them was not strong enough to warrant the death sentence on them.


But the Lagos State government, in a bid to reopen the case, filed a notice of appeal at the Supreme Court, asking for the permission of the court to allow it to challenge the findings of Appeal Court Justices Amina Adamu Augie, Rita Nosakhare Pemu and Fatimo Omoro Akinbami on the ground of miscarriage of justice in the matter.

The state prayed the apex court to allow it to exercise its constitutional right to test the validity of the decision of the Appeal Court.

It added that its ground of appeal raised arguable legal and factual issues, especially the question of whether there was any direct or circumstantial evidence establishing the guilt passed on Al-Mustapha in the murder case.

Lagos State justified its lateness in filing the appeal on the ground that it set up two legal teams to review the circumstances of the case and the verdict of the Court of Appeal. The government held that it took a long time for the two legal teams to present their findings and recommend that an appeal case could be filed and sustained.

However, the matter could not go on after it was raised by the counsel to the Lagos State government, Mr. J. I. Jacobs. Shortly after Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN) announced his appearance for Al-Mustapha, a member of the five-man panel of Justices, Centus Chima Nweze, asked to be excused out of the case.
Justice Nweze’s ground was that he had participated actively in some aspects of the matter at the Court of Appeal and as such, it would be morally wrong and improper for him to participate in the same matter at the apex court.
Daudu did not object to the request, which prompted Justice Bode Rhodes – Vivour to adjourn the matter till January 12, 2017 for a full panel to determine whether the court will allow the appeal to be heard, having been filed out of time.
Guardian



10 comments:

  1. I used to really want this man to pay for his crime. I still do. Somehow.

    There was a time a few years ago I saw his daughter on TV pleading for her Dad's life. A beautiful daughter he has. Very Beautiful child! Should be around 10 then or so.Al-Mustapha had Bn in jail for quite a few years by then.She read a letter she wrote her Dad and it totally broke my heart. At the end I was sniffing.

    Since then,Something changed.


    But Justice is still Justice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Intelligentia princess loves the Queen.4 November 2016 at 08:51

    Death by hanging in this jet age? Odikwa somehow. They should just send him to life imprisonment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The lagos state government should let it go, I guess he mustapha must have learnt his lessons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so heartless with this statement. What of the numerous people he killed,some are bread winners of their family you know,some are now fatherless or motherless because he and his boss wanted power. So what happens to all murderers still serving term?

      Delete
  4. The lagos state government should let it go, I guess he mustapha must have learnt his lessons.lets still wait and see how this plays out

    ReplyDelete
  5. That guy is untouchable. No death sentence will be carried out on him. If not northerners will revolt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haba. Let justice prevail. He killed by sword, by sword he too shall be killed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hmmm i doubt if Lagos state will win

    ReplyDelete
  8. If they wanted to kill him,they would have killed him since. Taking the case forward and backward does no Justice to the people who died at his hands.

    I'm sympathetic to him but if Justice can prevail,it will be good.

    ReplyDelete

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