Al Mustapha Death Sentence Appeal Case Comes Up April 29th

Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, will on April 29, hear the appeal filed by former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to late General Sanni Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, and former Personal Assistant to late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Lateef Shofolahan.

The appellants are challenging the verdict of Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court which sentenced them to death by hanging on January 30 2012 having found them guilty of the murder of late Mrs. Kudirat Abiola. The court, presided over by Justice C.C Nweze, fixed the date for hearing of the appeal, after counsels representing both convicts had applied for a regularisation of their briefs of argument. Former N.B.A. president, Joseph Daudu (SAN) and Mr Olalekan Ojo (counsel to the appellants), moved in terms of their motion papers. Justice Nweze granted their requests and adjourned the case to April 29 for hearing of the appeal.

The convicts were arraigned sometime in October 1999, on a four-count charge of “conspiracy and murder of Alhaja Abiola on June 4, 1996 along Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway.

The trial judge, Justice Mojisola Dada, had found both accused guilty of the offence and had accordingly convicted and sentenced them to death by hanging. Dissatisfied, counsel to both the first and second appellants appealed against the judgement. In the notice of appeal, the appellants are contending that the death sentence handed by the lower court was unwarranted, unreasonable and a manifest miscarriage of justice.

The appellants further contended that the trial judge erred in law by arriving at the conclusion that they conspired to kill Alhaja Abiola on June 4, 1996. The appellants prayed the court to allow their appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court. They also prayed the court to discharge them of the charges of conspiracy and murder.