Al Mustapha Recounts Prison Experience

 Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, on Sunday in Kano, wept profusely, as he recounted before a tumultuous crowd, his ordeals in Kirikiri Prisons Lagos, where he spent 15 years.

The former Chief Security Officer (CSO) of late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who had been facing trial over the alleged murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola, was freed last Friday by an Appeal Court sitting in Lagos.

Immediately after he arrived in a chartered aircraft with the founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr Fredrick Fasehun, he paid a thank you visit to the state governor, Dr. Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, along with members of his (Mustapha’s) family, and said the prolonged incarceration turned him into an orphan.

He said he did not only lose his parents during the period, but was denied the privilege of paying his last respect to their departed souls as the first child of the family.

Though he said he had forgiven those behind his ordeals, he, however, claimed that some of his experiences in prison were better imagined, as according to him, they were meant to undo him.

“I must say that even though I lost my father and mother whom I was forced to see only two times in 15 years—I am their first child, I must say I was their confidant and best friend in my family; and yet, even when the court forced the then authorities to allow me to set my eyes on them, the approvals of the court were flagrantly refused. And I was kept and punished the more, just a ploy to ensure that I didn’t set eyes on my parents.

“I saw my father in 2001, and later I saw him in May 2007; I was allowed to see my mother in 2001 August, and after a long battle, despite all instructions from Federal High Court, Lagos, I saw her in 2006 and she died last year, in the month of Ramadan.

“The things we went through, I cannot sum up, but all I can say is that yesterday is gone, those who have perpetrated what they did against us have done it in their own deductions, analyses, feelings but to us, yesterday is gone. We have drawn a line and we have forgiven them. We are forging ahead to set examples,” he stated.

However, he lauded Fasehun for standing by him during those trying moments, saying he had found a new father in the OPC leader.

“Now, Your Excellency, I have found a father—highly dogmatic, a senior citizen of this country, a detribalised elder, an intellectual, a person that is a father indeed with a wide shoulder and a big heart, a man that is very reliable, responsible, dependable, in Dr. Fredrick Faseaun.

“He stood by me, having taken time to come to the court to realise what was going on in the court of law. On the other hand, what was being scripted and sponsored on the pages of newspapers, magazines, television and the radio were different, he now decided to stay on the part of justice and insist that justice must be served. In rainy season, dry season, cold season, he was always in the court.

“I know of the humiliation he suffered. Your Excellency I must say that I have a father in the South-West and the part of this country that is my own and that is a personality I look up to for vision and guidance. I respect him as a father that can look through issues beyond tribal sentiment, beyond religious issues, he is an asset to the country, and that is why I have anchored upon him as a father with whom we can look into the future together.”

Thousands of well-wishers, friends and sympathisers of the family, had besieged the Government House, the venue of the reception, where Kwankwaso urged them to join the government in thanking Allah for making Mustapha’s release possible after a long period.

“What happened to him is a big lesson not only to the family but to everyone of us; but I give thanks to the judiciary for this bold verdict. The few times I visited him in prison, I saw the commitment and his faith in Allah, and it was obvious that he would one day regain his freedom and today, that has been actualised; and the government, friends and associates of this great son will pull resources together to ensure his rehabilitation anywhere he chooses to live,” Kwankwaso noted.

The governor explained that he was particularly happy that the campaign for his release succeeded.