Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, daughter of the late pro-democracy activist, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, has declared that Major Umar Al-Mustapha (retd.), Chief Security Officer to the late General Sani Abacha, must face justice for masterminding her mother’s 1996 assassination.
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| Al- Mustapha |
Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, daughter of the late pro-democracy activist, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, has declared that Major Umar Al-Mustapha (retd.), Chief Security Officer to the late General Sani Abacha, must face justice for masterminding her mother’s 1996 assassination.
Hafsat was responding to Al-Mustapha’s recent claim, made in Ondo State, that he is innocent of the charge of ordering Mrs. Abiola’s murder.
She reminded Al-Mustapha that he was convicted by the High Court in Lagos State and was acquitted at the Appeal Court only on technicalities. The matter, she added, is before the Supreme Court.
“Your current rantings are designed to divert the course of justice. It should be noted in the context of your recent declaration of innocence that Sergeant Rogers confessed before the Oputa Panel that you gave him the gun to carry out the murder of our mother. You never challenged the evidence of Rogers at the panel. The video of his confession is available on YouTube, if you need to refresh your memory,” said Hafsat.
She maintained that justice is the only way to ensure peace, especially in plural societies like ours, saying her mother was shot in Lagos for doing no more than challenging military rule under General Abacha by demanding the release of her husband, the late Chief MKO Abiola.
“She did not kill herself. For the sake of justice in Nigeria, the perpetrators of this heinous crime must be prosecuted. Actions must have consequences,” she said.
Mrs. Abiola was shot dead in Lagos on June 4, 1996. Her death provoked the widespread belief that it was a state-sponsored hit, given that she was demanding the release, from detention, of her husband, who had bravely challenged the military for annulling his 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by him.
