TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE BY DR. FREDERICK FASEHUN, FOUNDER AND
PRESIDENT OF THE OODUA PEOPLE’S CONGRESS (OPC) AND CHAIRMAN, UNITY PARTY OF
NIGERIA, AT CENTURY HOTEL, OKOTA, LAGOS, ON 19TH JULY 2013
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen of
the Press: I welcome you all.
It has become important for me to
address you on events of the last one week relating to the revocation on July
12 by the Court of Appeal of the malicious death sentence passed on Major Hamza
Al-Mustapha in January last year. Last week’s verdict was long expected, and it
has resuscitated people’s confidence in the Judiciary.
First, let me express immeasurable
gratitude for the support I received from the Press regarding my campaign for
the freedom of this innocent officer and gentleman. Although a section of the
Press may have been unconvinced about my campaign to free Al-Mustapha,
journalists still exercised enough professionalism and objectivity to give me
fair hearing as unbiased purveyors of my views.
However, opposing voices, which
commanded more media space than I did, nearly drowned me out. For years, I was
the lone voice in the wilderness; and detractors tied me to the stake of their
prejudice and set me on fire. And it was not difficult to see the reason why.
Many a Nigerian simply wanted life for life, and demanded the head of
Al-Mustapha and his co-Accused Alhaji Lateef Shofohan for the blood of Alhaja Kudirat
Abiola, who fell to assassin’s bullets on June 4, 1996 around Seven-Up, Ikeja area of Lagos.
Let me say at this juncture that my
sympathy remains with the Abiola family, especially the children of Alhaja
Kudirat Abiola.
I knew Alhaja Kudirat personally. Maybe we can say it for the
first time publicly: She joined OPC at the dawn of the group, and actively
encouraged the growth of OPC. We worked together in NADECO.
And throughout,
Kudirat proved to be a woman of uncommon courage, a true Amazon. She did not
deserve to die. Ironically, I was in detention for my role in OPC when she fell
to the assassin’s bullet in1996.
The killing of
Alhaja Kudirat Abiola diminished all of us. Like her family and the rest of the
world, I demand justice for her cruel killing.
I demand life for life –the life
of her killers for her life. But not just anyone should pay for that evil,
least of all an innocent man.
The judicial killing of Major Hamza
Al-Mustapha would have been as evil as the cold-blooded killing of Alhaja
Kudirat Abiola.
However, I have a track record for
taking up arms against oppression everywhere. It informs the stand I took on
causes relating to: Patricia Etteh, Uzoma Okere, Olusegun Obasanjo, the Southern-Owned
Banks, Oladimeji Bankole, Nuhu Ribadu, M.K.O. Abiola, June 12 and many more. And it would have been opposite to
my character to stay aloof in the case of Al-Mustapha, despite his serving in
the General Sani Abacha government, a regime that detained me and destroyed my
health and my businesses.
And everyone knows I neither
interfered nor intervened in the Al-Mustapha case until it had run for about
eight years. And the case aroused my particular interest for two chief reasons:
1. The inordinate
delay of the trial.
2. The retracting of
supposedly confessional statements erstwhile made by principal Prosecution
Witnesses.
The case would easily rate among the
longest in the annals of Nigeria’s justice system.
Undoubtedly, Major
Al-Mustapha was a high-profile Accused, by virtue of his rank in the Nigerian
Army and the role he played in the government of General Sani Abacha as the
Chief Security Officer to the Head of State.
If, as the Prosecution alleged, he
was the principal culprit in the murder of this woman and if all evidence
pointed in that direction, why not finish off the case summarily –it would have
been an easy enough case to conclude? Justice delayed is justice denied. What
does it take to sentence a criminal already in custody?
But the case dragged on
at snail speed. Then at the beginning, the government engaged in “fishing.”
When Mustapha was first arrested and detained, no charge was procured against him
–go and check the records. Much later did the charge of murder emerge, and this
after those of coup-plotting, security breach, acquiring stinger missiles, etc.
failed to stick.
And then he was locked away in solitary confinement for five
years. When I heard all these, the human being in me kicked. No one deserved to
be treated that way.
Not only am I a Yoruba man, I am a Christian as well as a
Civil Rights Advocate; and on all counts, am I sentenced to abhor violence,
revenge and injustice. It was Al-Mustapha today; it could be anyone else next time.
Several paradoxes cropped up in the
course of the trial to show that the Prosecution actually was taking not just
Al-Mustapha but the entire nation for a ride.
Those contradictions included:
1. Conflicting witness accounts
2. Prosecution witnesses’ refusal to
return for cross-examination
3. Failure to tender any ballistic
report on the murder weapon
4. Inability to provide the actual
murder weapon
5. Absence of a voluntary confession
from Al-Mustapha.
Despite all these absurdities,
despite the State’s failure to prove its case beyond ALL REASONABLE DOUBT,Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court decided to pronounce the two Accused men guilty
of FIRST DEGREE MURDER.
In the words of
JUSTICE Mojisola Dada: “Those who shed blood are those who fear
death most. The Defendants are accordingly sentenced to death by hanging until
they are proved dead.”
At the end of the
day, the man became a victim of mob lynching and jungle justice. He was quickly
tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. And then, dancing to the kokoma drumbeats from the gallery and her paymasters, Justice Mojisola Dada
passed that most ridiculous death sentence.
It was a most wicked ruling to
give. It inflicted an atrocious smear on the integrity and impartiality of the
Judiciary. And that is why the July 12 ruling by the Court of Appeal amounted
to redemption for the Judiciary.
ASTOUNDING FACTS ABOUT THE
AL-MUSTAPHA TRIAL
· Nine different panels of enquiry cleared Al-Mustapha of complicity in
the murder, including a Special Investigative Panel established by the police
and the Agbaje Panel set up in 1998 by the government of General Abubakar
Abdulsalami
· Under cross-examination in court, Barnabas Jabila, alias “Sergeant
Rogers,” rescinded his earlier testimony that Al-Mustapha sent him to kill
Kudirat, and that he had told the falsehood based on instruction from the Lagos
State Government (represented by Professor Yemi Osibajo then the
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice) and the Federal Government
(represented by Chief Bola Ige then the Attorney-General and Minister of
Justice) on condition that he would be rewarded with a house, a foreign posting
and a job for his wife
· Sergeant Rogers said Chief Bola Ige regularly gave him N100,000 in cash
when visiting him in detention, while Osibajo gave him a telephone handset
· Sergeant Rogers said that in reality he was in Abuja on the day Kudirat
was killed, a fact that could be corroborated by colleagues
· Muhammed Abdul, alias “Katako,” who allegedly drove the vehicle that
took the killers could not tell the court the brand of vehicle he drove
· Katako later broke down in court, saying, he lied based on instruction
from the Lagos State Government (represented by Professor Yemi Osibajo then the
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice) and the Federal Government
(represented by Chief Bola Ige then the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice)
in exchange for a house in Jos and promises that his family would be catered
for
· Katako said that actually on the day of the murder, he was contracting
his first marriage at Azare in Bauchi State
· When Al-Mustapha was first arrested in October 1998, he was charged with
keeping the property of General Sani Abacha, and when that could not be
substantiated, he was charged for gun-running from Libya, and later for
planning to overthrow the government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar
· Al-Mustapha had enjoyed cordial relations with Chief Abiola since 1985,
and Abiola introduced him to Reverend Jesse Jackson and Ambassador Walter
Carrington as a son, when the duo visited the politician in detention
· To puncture plans by dissidents to kill Abiola on the night Abacha died,
Al-Mustapha concealed him secretly
· The Prosecution failed to produce the bullet extracted from the disease
and link it to Al-Mustapha’s gun, which was allegedly used to kill Kudirat.
HOW THE COURT OF APPEAL RULED
In view of all these contradictions,
the Court of Appeal made some damning pronouncements on the 326 pages of
judgement by the lower court. And I will quote verbatim the ruling by Justice
Nosakhare Pemu and concurred to by Amina Augie and Fatima Omoro Akinbami.
· It is obvious that the Prosecution Witnesses fielded by the Prosecution
have been so discredited even in cross-examination that no reasonable court can
convict on the evidence available.
· It is foolhardy and indeed preposterous to say that the contradictions
in the evidence of the Prosecution Witnesses were not material, as the learned
Judge (that is of the Lagos High Court) observed.
· Curiously, the Prosecution agreed that the evidence of the Prosecution
Witnesses was unreliable. He however did not treat them as hostile witnesses. I
wonder how the lower court could have referred to these witnesses as reliable.
· There is nothing to show that the Appellant did, or omit to do, any act
for the purpose of enabling, or aiding another person, to commit the offence
with which he is charged. There is no evidence that the Appellant counselled or
procured any other person to commit the offence with which he is charged.
· For a judgement of 326 pages...and the matter being a criminal offence
with two counts of conspiring to murder and murder respectively, it was
foolhardy that the lower court was so carried away and apparently strove to
secure a conviction by all means.
· Directly, or by circumstantial evidence, there is nothing connecting the
Appellant (Major Hamza Al-Mustapha) to the commission of the murder.
MY TRIP TO KANO WITH AL-MUSTAPHA
I went to Kano to hand over
Al-Mustapha back to his people safe and sound, through Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso
and the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. It was a request Al-Mustapha made, and one I
was too glad to grant.
Something frightened me about Kano
–the crowd. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have seen crowds in my lifetime. But
nothing I ever saw compares to the huge mass of humanity, that turned out to
welcome Al-Mustapha back home to Kano. It justified everything I did to fight
for this Military officer. Can you imagine if this man had died in Lagos! How
would that crowd greet the news of his death? What degree of reprisal wouldn’t
they have unleashed on the millions of Yoruba people in their midst? Would we
not have sentenced our kinsmen to certain death –avoidable death? Today, the
Yoruba in Kano walk tall.
In Kano, Governor Rabiu Kwakwanso
described me as the ONLY BRIDGE-BUILDER Nigeria has ever known. When I left
Kano last Sunday, 45 Northern dignitaries escorted me to the airport. Such
appreciative gestures not only compensate for all the insults I received over
the Al-Mustapha case, they indicate that I had achieved my quest for
a-handshake-across-the-Niger.
JUSTICE
DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED
The
detention and trial of this Officer and his co-Accused represented an injustice
on its own. It hardly happens in the civilised world. If a trial is unduly
delayed, it may cause prejudice to the Defendant; Witnesses may become weary or
start to disappear, memories may begin to fade or entirely lost thereby
affecting the ability of witnesses to recall evidence, finally leading to an
unjust verdict. Death of key witnesses can occur, also, which happened in the
case of Al-Mustapha.
Currently,
the Nigerian Constitution and law books maintain an indecent silence on the
duration of trials. Nigeria must hasten to copy “The United States’ Speedy Trial Act of 1974” that
establishes time limits for completing the various stages of a federal criminal
prosecution. Also, the Judiciary must invest in modern equipment to speed up
the dispensation of justice in the court system. And then, why would you lock
away a person for 15 years (representing roughly 23 prison years) for a case he
has not been sentenced for? What if he is found innocent in the end, as has
happened in the case of Major Al-Mustapha? How do you compensate for all that
wasted time? South Africa impressed me in tackling this dilemma. In South
Africa, the Paralympian Gold Medallist, Oscar Pistorius, accused of
killing his girlfriend in February, has been released on bail. After all, a man
is considered innocent until proved otherwise. Bail for Accused in lingering
trials will serve the cause of justice and human rights.
MOVING ON
Now we must put the Mustapha case
behind us and forge the way into the future. The Lagos State Government must
stop wasting taxpayers’ money and immediately dismantle the team it assigned to
prosecute the case. Although it is the government’s right to pursue the case to
the Supreme Court, not only will such a cause waste time and money, it will
further fan the embers of hatred between the North and the South and prolong
the psychological torture inflicted on an innocent man.
The real killer of Alhaja Kudirat
Abiola is still at large, out there. A fresh hunt must be launched to unmask
her real killers, as well as those responsible for killing: Bola Ige, Harry
Marshall, Alfred Rewane, Funsho Williams, Odunayo Olagbaju, Ogbonnaya Uche,
Theodore Agwatu, Barnabas and Abigail Igwe, Bisoye Tejuosho, Aminasoari Dikibo,
Philip Olorunnipa, Ayo Daramola, Olaitan Oyerinde and M.K.O. Abiola.
For her own part in this Theatre of
the Absurd, Justice Mojisola Dada must be probed and sanctioned by the National
Judicial Council, NJC.
MY ACCUSERS AND MY CREDENTIALS
I have received vilifications for my
support for Al-Mustapha from even my most trusted associates. But none of these
moves me. My accusers know my credentials. And with all modesty, I say my
pro-democratic credentials are formidable and unassailable. I am a Patriarch of
this Democracy –a fact that no Jupiter can take from me. I helped to lay the
foundation for the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and helped build it into a
party that would earn Progressives their first taste of national victory. I
worked for Abiola’s victory in the legendary June 12 election. In the
forefront of those who founded NADECO, I stand counted as a strong and sturdy
pillar. At a time when the world thought Yoruba would spinelessly turn the
other cheek, I single-handedly founded OPC to fight the cause of M.K.O. Abiola
and June 12. When Abacha goons began to hound
down pro-Democrats, I stole the likes of Chief Anthony Enahoro through the
“NADECO Route” out of Nigeria, while I myself returned home to face the wrath
of their hunters. I was arrested. I was detained at notorious detention
centres. I spent almost two years in solitary confinement (December 1996 to June 1998), where I nearly
lost my mind and I actually lost my perfect eyesight. General Sani Abacha,
through the Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters General Oladipo Diya and the
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Dr. Olu Onagoruwa, offered me the
Chairmanship of the National Economic Group, but I turned it down. Due to my
uncompromising role in the pro-democratic struggle, my hospital lost the
thriving retainership we held with Federal MDAs like NEPA (valued at over N10
million per annum during a period the Naira had better value). My wife
suffered. My children suffered. My staff suffered. Our flourishing pharmacy
business collapsed irretrievably. I cannot count the number of courts I have
been hurled before on trumped up charges; and not a single one found me guilty
of as much as a misdemeanour –all the Judges discharged and acquitted me. My
hotel bears the marks of boots, batons and bullets of security invaders, with
valuables, ranging from shoes to foreign currencies, lost forever.
Today, I make bold to say that, apart
from those who lost their lives, if anyone else has contributed to, or suffered
for, Nigeria more than I have (and I mean ANYONE), I challenge them to come
forward!
CONCLUSION
Why will I continue to tread this
lonely road? Simple, what the elder sees at dawn, the neophyte sees when it is
too late. Before any court would pronounce him guiltless, I saw beyond the
chicanery, the subterfuge and the politics in the Al-Mustapha case, and I told
the whole world that this man in chains was not the killer of that forthright
woman. I risked life and livelihood and associates to take my stand. He was
just a man whom some powerful people want dead at all costs because of their
dirty secrets in his possession. And several years down the line, a court of
unbiased judges has vindicated me. Today, I demand apologies from all those who
condemned me for taking my unshaken stand on Major Al-Mustapha.
In concluding, let me say that in all
these things, some dominant passions drive me: One is the quest to keep Nigeria
united, peaceful and prosperous. The other is the determination that, until I
breathe my last, I shall always stand up to tyranny and injustice. My passion
to stand up for the oppressed is driven by God, by conscience and by
self-preservation. It also owes to the realisation that what goes around
unchallenged will eventually come round unrestrained. Therefore, we must strive
to build our social justice in consonance with the famous words of Martin
Niemoller, that German Pastor, whose outspokenness
annoyed Adolf Hitler, so much that
Hitler locked him up in a concentration camp for seven years. Listen to what
Niemoller said:
First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Communist
Then they came for the Trade
Unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist
Then they came for the Jews, and I
didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew
Then they came for me, and there was
no one left to speak out for me.
It was Major Al-Mustapha facing
injustice yesterday, who knows whose turn it will be tomorrow?
Nigerians anywhere can rest assured
that if any should find himself on the horns of injustice, I shall fight for
that person with the very same passion and doggedness as I fought for Major
Al-Mustapha and Bashorun Abiola. So help me God.
Ladies and Gentlemen: Thanks for
giving me audience.
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