Okiro saved me from death, says Al-Mustapha,Claims Ribadu headed execution squad

Claims Ribadu headed execution squad, ex-EFCC boss denies
Court admits ex-CSO’s letter to Bola Ige as evidence
Video clip shows footages of Adesanya, Ige, others at Aso Rock

FORMER Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha, yesterday continued his startling revelations of the events that happened before, during and after the death of business mogul, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential polls.

On the third day of his trial for the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola at the Lagos High Court, Igbosere, Al-Mustapha denied any involvement in the killing of the pro-democracy activist woman and wife of MKO who was still then in detention.


In a reaction, Ribadu said Al Mustapha’s claim that as an “escort officer” he was recruited to assassinate him in 1998 was not true.

“I want to strongly refute this claim as false, and perhaps as invented to help build a constituency of concern and sympathy for his case. I was never a party to any such plot, and will never be associated in a scheme to perpetrate extra-judicial murder.

“For the records, however, I was the lead state prosecutor (not escort officer) in all the cases of the 1998 trialists facing murder charges before they were handed over to the Lagos State government. I was also a passenger in the same Nigerian Air Force aircraft that conveyed them all (including Gen. Bamaiyi, Col. Bako and others) from Abuja to Lagos to begin trial. This would certainly not be a logical setting for assassination!”
Al-Mustapha, however, alleged that the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, was under instruction to kill him.

According to Al-Mustapha, it was the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, then Commissioner of Police in Lagos State that saved him from Ribadu by insisting that he must see a letter from the Presidency before he (Al-Mustapha) could be executed.

The embattled erstwhile CSO claimed that it was on account of the event that Okiro was dropped as Lagos police boss.
Al-Mustpaha was led in the concluding part of his startling revelations by his counsel, Olalekan Ojo, in the court headed by Justice Mojisola Dada, amidst tight security provided by the State Security Services (SSS), the Police, and prison officials.

The overzealous security personnel prevented some journalists who had besieged the court as early as 7.30 a.m. from entering the courtroom.

Al-Mustapha said his trial was to pay him for stopping the ambition of some powerful politicians in Nigeria.
He further told the court that he became a victim of the political class right from the death of Abacha till date because of the role he played on which region should rule Nigeria and those who wanted Abiola killed.
Like he did on Wednesday, Al-Mustapha claimed yesterday that former Head of State, Gen.

Abdulsalami Abubakar saw him as an enemy and therefore removed him from office.

He said his persecution was initiated by Gen. Abubakar, adding that he was taken to Lagos to be killed and not to be tried in court.

Al-Mustapha said his persecution continued under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and recalled that while in detention with Gen. Ibrahim Sabo, he sent a message  through Sabo to Obasanjo. “Gen. Sabo was in detention with me. When they were releasing him and he was leaving me behind, I whispered to him to go to a certain place and get a tape for Obasanjo. Everything I have done was in the interest of this nation. The tape was a decision on where Gen. Abubakar insisted that Gen. Obasanjo should be dealt with in accordance with the 1976 Treason Decree, which he made when he was military head of state.

“He described him (Obasanjo) as the most irresponsible Nigerian and said many things I would not want to talk about. Gen. Sabo took it to him (Obasanjo) as his own and got appointment from the former President. All I was telling him was to beware because those who wanted him dead in 1995/6 were the same people who gave him power. And my concern was for the fact that what I proposed to Gen. Abubakar as the head of state was for Abiola to have his mandate validated after a short transition. But unfortunately, during the handover in 1999, all lies were fed to Obasanjo and that contributed to his hating me and continued with my persecution: That I should remain in detention forever,” he stated.

According to Al-Mustapha, who spoke after the video clips showing the departure of the late Afenifere leader, Pa Abraham Adesanya and slain Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige from the Presidency, “If Abiola were to be alive, I will not be in prison.”

On the issue of removing Abubakar from power, Al-Mustpaha, whose supporters in their hundreds including Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) founder, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, thronged the court premises, said he was in Enugu when he got information about it and sent a coded message to him (Abubakar) which saved the day.
The video clips earlier admitted in evidence by the judge on Wednesday showed the visit of the Yoruba elders led by Adesanya on July 8, 1998 a day after Abiola was murdered.

The video clip, which was shown in the court, contained the interview conducted by the State’s House correspondents with Adesanya.  It went thus:

Journalists: How was the meeting?
Adesanya: The head of state conceded to the points given to him.
Journalists: What are the issues discussed?
Adesanya: The Government of the National Unity will still be there, but it is not Abiola that will head it, since he has died. As far as we are concerned, there should still be a Government of National Unity (SNU).
Journalists: Who is going to head the GNU?
Adesanya: We are not proposing anybody yet.
Under cross-examination, the defence counsel asked Al-Mustapha the following questions:
Counsel: Where was the venue of the clip?
Al-Mustapha: In front of the office of the President at the Villa, Abuja.
Counsel: Can you identify those you saw?
Al-Mustapha: I don’t honestly know all of them but I know the prominent two, Pa Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige.
Counsel: Does this exhibit show their arrival?
Mustapha: That is what I said that Abubakar seized the arrival from me, what you saw in the clip is their departure and those were Government House pressmen interviewing them.
Counsel: Who hosted them?
Mustapha: The National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Abdullahi Mohammed. I decided to stay outside because I have already handed over as the Chief Security Officer (CSO).
Counsel: You just mentioned that the NSA was among those who hosted them. Look at the exhibit… and see if he was the one who co-signed it (the memo of withdrawal of cash from the CBN)?
Al-Mustapha: Yes, my Lord, it was the same Gen. Mohammed that became Chief of Staff in the government of Obasanjo. He wrote a letter to the National Human Rights Commission (Oputa panel) and asked that they should be giving Gen. Abubarkar maximum protection.

Counsel: You said yesterday (Wednesday) that some persons, including PWD2 (Sergeant Rogers), were sent to you when you were in Enugu, you said you wrote a letter to Bola Ige, through whom did you send the letter?

Al-Mustapaha: I sent it through my counsel. I sent it in July. It was dated July 15, 1999. The late (Clement) Akpamgbo (SAN) and Amaobi Nzelu were my counsel. The original of the letter was delivered to the late Bola Ige, what I have now is a photocopy.

Counsel: Have you made any effort to get the original?
Al-Mustapha: I have not my Lord. I just hope that his children will be able to get it from his archives.
Counsel: What issues did you raise in the letter?

Al-Mustapha: They are three - one, when I received the directive given to Lagos to establish our conviction at all cost, I decided to write him having known his family right from Yobe State.
Counsel: Can you identify the letter?
Al-Mustapha: Yes, my Lord (identifies it).
Counsel: (to the court) My Lord, we are seeking to tender this private letter for the following purposes:
• To show that the witness has been consistently saying most of the things he said yesterday (Wednesday) and Monday and long before now; and

• To provide further documentary corroboration to the content of exhibits 2, 1, 3, so that the court would know that he did not wake up one day to say all these.

“I also say that in view of the address of that letter, Chief Bola Ige, it has become important to seek to produce the original of that letter under Section 94 of the Evidence Act. I submit that the photocopy is admissible as secondary evidence.

But the prosecuting counsel, Lawal Pedro (SAN) urged the court to reject the letter as evidence.
He said: “Our position is that it has not passed the test of the Evidence Act as to admissibility of the documents. Section 97(a) of the Act says if there was an acknowledgement in any way. In the absence of mere acknowledgment of this letter, I urged my Lordship to dismiss it. There is no way that the section my colleague is quoting applies here. I urged my Lordship to stand firm and reject this piece of paper.”

Al-Mustapha’s counsel countered thus: “My learned colleague said he would not oppose the letter. On the issue of acknowledgement, it has to do with the issue or the weight of the letter. I urge this honourable court to dismiss that submission relating to the issue of admissibility and the issue of weight. On the issue of the prosecution seeing the document for the first time, it has never been the law in Nigeria to give advance notice in a criminal charge to the prosecution unless the laws are reformed. Section 97(a)(1) as quoted by my colleague is irrelevant because the letter is not being sought to prove anything against Bola Ige. He is not a party to this suit. There is no adversarial contest.”

Then the judge intervened, saying “I admit the document because it will serve better for the defendant in his defence than rejecting it. It is now marked D1(4).”
Defence counsel: Who is the addressee of the letter?

Al-Mustapha: Chief Bola Ige.
Counsel: Go to Paragraph 5(A). The issue is the murder of Chief Abiola. Remember that you were asked to bring an aircraft to bring his family, remember you were to negotiate the release of Abiola. When did you write the letter?

Al-Mustapha. Abuja (Women Development Centre at the Human Rights Abuses Investigation Panel (HRIP) popularly known as Oputa panel.

Counsel: What happened when you came to Lagos?
Al-Mustapha: We were stoned, chained and arraigned at the Magistrate Court. The Black Maria we were was kept in the scorching sun. I heard the then Commissioner of Police, Mike Okiro, arguing that we should not be killed. That if I were to be killed, they should bring a letter from the Presidency. The argument was that Nuhu Ribadu’s team was bent on killing us. They also started to drive gragra (rough driving) just to punish us. The remote control was from the Special Investigation Panel (SIP) in Abuja away from the knowledge of the prosecution in Lagos.
Counsel: Exhibit DW1 is the initial statement of PW2. What date is there?
Al-Mustapha: May 27, 1999.
Counsel: That is the document, which PWD denied being responsible for, that he was in Abuja?
Al-Mustapha: Yes.
Counsel: This exhibit is not clearly written here but in this court, it was written D1. Before exhibit A2 came into being, in whose custody was exhibit A2?
Al-Mustapha: It was in the custody of the SSS.
Counsel: Do you know any fact relating or contributing to the emergence of exhibit A2 after exhibit D1?
Al-Mustapha: SIP organised a lot of confirmation and a lot of inducement took place. That was the time he was induced and tutored to indict us.
Counsel: What was your reaction when they were saying this?
Al-Mustapha: I denied it. From the set up and confrontations where they were honoured.
Counsel: You said that PW2 protested, which led to the President making certain directives. Tell the court all you know.

Al-Mustapha: It was at the Force Headquarters where I was first kept. I knew of the Presidency link because he complained of being kept in inhuman condition and the Presidency reacted that he should be better treated.
Counsel: Before which panel did you make exhibit A3?
Al-Mustapha: SIP
Counsel: Can you reach out if any in A3 where you denied the allegations before you to this court?
Al-Mustapha: I did not order anybody to assassinate Kudirat Abiola. I did not give them arms or pass for any assignment. There are other agencies, which are giving different information to by the Presidency.
Counsel: Can you remember and tell this court the condition under which you were when you made these statements?

Al-Mustapha: I was under chains, injured, tortured and left without food and drink. I was deprived of sleep by way of pouring cold water on me. They also used office pins on me.
Counsel: Do you have any further fact as to why you are being targeted to be eliminated or imprisoned for the rest of your life?

Al-Mustapha: I became a victim of the political class right from the death of Abacha till date because of the role I played as to which region should rule Nigeria. It is a scripted power-play from the position I have played. Abubakar, who initiated this persecution, was not the best in Nigeria but God did it to avoid a bloodbath in the country. I thanked God that he has used me to avoid a bloodbath. The ambition of some people who did not actualise their dreams resulted to all these. Gen. Abubakar and I sat for four days where I put him through on the issues pending. But they scuttled all and felt that I should not be in circulation. The family (the late Abiola’s) as a protest filed a suit against the Federal Government to pay them compensation. I was in prison when they (DPP) came to me to recruit me to witness against the family and I refused. That was in 2002 and in 2004. I was framed up as plotting a coup against Gen. Obasanjo. The script was that I should be emptied of everything I had. One other fundamental problem committed is when in the 1995/96 coup, I was asking for commutal for the alleged coup plotters. That did not go down well with Abubakar. They have their own reasons. Those who want Obasanjo dead in 1998 were those who gave him power. He should beware of them.”

He will be cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel led by Pedro next week.