The Supreme Court has formally dismissed the murder case instituted by the Lagos State Government against Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, over the killing of Kudirat Abiola.
Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late MKO Abiola—the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election—was assassinated in Lagos on June 4, 1996, during the political crisis that followed the annulment.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday, a five-man panel of the apex court, led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, held that the Lagos State Government abandoned the case after failing for more than nine years to file the required notice of appeal to revive the trial.
The court expressed displeasure that the state neither filed any legal process nor appeared in court, despite being granted leave in 2014 to challenge the Court of Appeal judgment, which had discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha.
Justice Aba-Aji ruled that the nine-year delay was more than sufficient for the state to have acted, describing it as a clear indication of a lack of interest in prosecuting the appeal. Consequently, the appeal marked SC/CR/45/2014, along with a related application, was dismissed.
Al-Mustapha had been sentenced to death by hanging by a Lagos High Court in 2012, but was acquitted by the Court of Appeal in 2013 on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
The Supreme Court’s ruling now brings the long-running case to an end.
