The Supreme Court has dismissed a suit seeking the retrial of the former Chief Security Officer, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd.), who served the now late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, over the murder of Kudirat Abiola.
A wife of the winner of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola, Kudirat was killed on 4 June 1996, in Lagos.
Al-Mustapha and an aide of the Kudirat, Lateef Shofolahan, were accused of being involved in her death.
They were subsequently charged to court by the Lagos State Government and arraigned on a two-count charge that bordered on conspiracy to commit murder, and the murder of Kudirat.
On 30 January 2012, Al-Mustapha and Shofolahan were sentenced to death for murder by Justice Mojisola Dada of a Federal High Court in Lagos.
But they appealed against the judgement at the Lagos division of the Court of Appeal and were acquitted of the charge on 12 July 2013.
On 12 January 2017, a five-member panel of justices, led by Walter Onnoghen, who later became the Chief Justice of Nigeria, granted the Lagos State Government an extended time to file an appeal despite the expiration of the time to do so.
The panel ordered the government to file notice of appeal within the next 30 days.
At the court session on Thursday, counsel to Al- Mustapha, Paul Daudu told the court that the state government had not taken any step to implement the order granted it in 2017.
He said that, not even a notice of appeal was filed to demonstrate the state government’s seriousness to prosecute the matter, even after nine years
He, therefore, prayed the court to hold that the appellant had abandoned the case and should be dismissed in its entirety.
Following an enquiry by a five-member panel of the Supreme Court. led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, it was found that a hearing notice was duly served on the state government, which was not represented by any counsel.
In a brief ruling, the panel agreed that the state had lost interest in the matter.
The panel held that nine years was long enough for the appellant to have filed its notice of appeal and the appeal on the matter.
They noted that there was no correspondence from the state government to explain why it was not represented in court.
Consequently, the case was dismissed.
