The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has fixed April 29 for the hearing of the appeal filed by Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late Sani Abacha; and Lateef Sofolahan, former Personal Assistant to late Kudirat Abiola.
Presenting the appeal on Friday, Al-Mustapha’s lawyer, Mr Olalekan Ojo, in his 112-page written address, said the prosecution’s evidence on the defendant’s conviction was not supported by law.
The appellants contended that the death sentence by the lower court was “unwarranted, unreasonable and a manifest miscarriage of justice.”
Mr. Al-Mustapha’s four grounds and Mr. Shofolahan’s five grounds of appeal faulted the judgment of the lower court in admitting the testimonies of Ore Falomo, as well as the contradictory statements of Barnabas Jabila (a.k.a Sgt. Rogers) and Mohamamed Abdul (a.k.a Katako).
He urged the court to acquit and discharge his clients.
A Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere on 31 January, 2012 convicted Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer t over the murder of of Kudirat Abiola, the wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election.
The defendants have been sentenced to death by hanging.
Kudirat Abiola’s murder case is adjudged to be the longest criminal trials in the nation’s history, lasting more than 12 years with five successive judges during which time the accused persons were held in detention.
The time spent in prison calendar by the defendants is equivalent to 20 years.
The prosecution counsel led by Lawal Pedro had accused Al-Mustapha of ordering Sergeant Barnabas Jabila (Sgt. Rogers), who was then a member of both the Strike Force and Body Guards – military units within the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja, to kill Mrs Abiola.
Kudirat Abiola was shot dead on June 4, 1996 along the Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway, Lagos toll gate, opposite Cargo Vision, Ikeja in Lagos.
The prosecution also accused Mr Shofolahan, who was said to be Kudirat’s protocol officer, to have revealed the deceased’s itinerary to her assailants.
According to the prosecution, Mohammed Abdulof was alleged to have driven the car Jabila and Sholohan used to trail and killed Mrs Abiola.
Mr Shofolahan, however, denied that he ever worked for Kudirat in any capacity throughout her lifetime.
The prosecuting lawyers in their 34-page final written address, at the close of the trial on November 10, 2011, urged the court to convict the two accused persons as charged.