Supreme Court rejects Lagos bid to reopen Al-Mustapha trial over Kudirat Abiola killing

The Supreme Court has struck out a suit by the Lagos State Government seeking to reopen the murder trial of Hamza Al-Mustapha, former chief security officer to the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, over the assassination of Kudirat Abiola.

Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late MKO Abiola, was shot dead in Lagos on June 4, 1996. Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan, a former aide to Kudirat, were later charged with conspiracy and murder by the Lagos State Government.

In January 2012, Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos High Court convicted both men and sentenced them to death. However, the judgment was overturned on July 12, 2013, when the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal discharged and acquitted them, holding that the prosecution failed to establish a credible link between the defendants and the killing.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, Lagos State sought to challenge the acquittal at the Supreme Court. On January 12, 2017, a five-man panel of the apex court, then headed by former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, granted the state additional time to file an appeal, despite the expiration of the statutory period.

The court directed Lagos State to file its notice of appeal within 30 days. However, the matter stalled for years without any action from the state.

When the case came up for hearing on Thursday, counsel to Al-Mustapha, Paul Daudu (SAN), informed the court that Lagos State had failed to file a notice of appeal or take any step to prosecute the case nearly nine years after the extension was granted.

He urged the court to declare the appeal abandoned and dismiss it in its entirety.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, confirmed that hearing notices were duly served on the Lagos State Government. The panel, however, noted that no legal representative appeared for the state and that no explanation was offered for its absence.

In a brief ruling, the apex court held that the prolonged inaction showed a clear lack of interest in pursuing the appeal. The justices ruled that the state had more than enough time to act but failed to do so.

The court subsequently dismissed the case, marked SC/CR/45/2014, effectively ending all legal attempts to retry Al-Mustapha over the murder of Kudirat Abiola.