The Supreme Court has dismissed a long-running suit seeking a retrial of Hamza Al-Mustapha, former chief security officer to late military ruler Sani Abacha, over the 1996 murder of Kudirat Abiola.
Kudirat Abiola, wife of detained democracy icon Moshood Abiola, was assassinated in Lagos on June 4, 1996. Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan, an aide to Kudirat, were accused of orchestrating the killing and were arraigned by the Lagos State Government on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and murder.
In January 2012, the Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced both men to death. However, the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict in July 2013, acquitting them of all charges.
Lagos State sought to challenge that acquittal but failed to act within the stipulated time. Although the Supreme Court, in January 2017, granted the state an extension of 30 days to file a notice of appeal, no such filing was made.
At Thursday’s hearing, counsel to Al-Mustapha, Paul Daudu, told the court that Lagos State had taken no steps to pursue the appeal in nine years, arguing that the case had effectively been abandoned.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, confirmed that hearing notices were duly served on Lagos State, which was absent and unrepresented. The court noted the lack of any explanation or correspondence from the state.
In a brief ruling, the panel held that nine years was more than sufficient time to file a notice of appeal and concluded that the state had lost interest in the case. The appeal, marked SC/CR/45/2014, was accordingly dismissed.
