Al-Mustapha, Shofolahan appeal death sentence

Written by The Punch Wednesday, 01 February 2012

Major Hamza al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan have filed separate notices of appeal against the judgment of a Lagos High Court which on Monday sentenced them to death by hanging for the murder of the late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

 Justice Mojisola Dada, in the judgment, said the convicts were to die by hanging “until pronounced dead.”

 Their counsel, Mr. Olalekan Ojo, soon after filing the appeal on Tuesday told our correspondent that the convicts would be filing a stay of execution today (Wednesday) “out of abundance of caution.”

 He said, “Ordinarily, when a convict sentenced to death has filed a notice of appeal, there should be a stay of execution of the judgment. This is because it is a living person that will prosecute the appeal. But out of abundance of caution, we are going to file the stay of execution of that judgment tomorrow (today).”

 Justice Dada held that the prosecution had proved that al-Mustapha, the then Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, ordered Sgt. Barnabas Jabila (Sgt. Rogers), to kill the deceased on June 4, 1996.

 However, in their notices of appeal filed at the Court of Appeal,Lagos at about 1.50pm on Tuesday, each of the convicts canvassed five grounds of appeal.

 They sought for an order of the appellate court allowing the appeal and setting aside the judgment.

 The convicts also sought an order acquitting and discharging them on the two counts of conspiracy to murder andmurder.

 Ojo stated that “further grounds of appeal will be filed upon the receipt of the records of appeal.”

 They argued that the trial judge erred in law by holding that the contradictions in the evidence of PW2 (Jabila) and PW3 (Mohammed Abdul aka Katako) were immaterial.

 They also stated that it was wrong for the judge to have relied on the evidence tendered by Dr. Ore Falomo who had testified during trial that the bullet extracted from the head of the deceased was a special bullet not commonly seen.

 Mustapha and Shofolahan said Falomo also told the police that it was a fifth columnist in the government that killed Kudirat going by the look of the bullet.

 They argued that since Falomo was only a medical practitioner and not a ballistician, his opinion evidence on the type and nature of the bullet was irrelevant and amounted to inadmissible evidence.

 They also accused Justice Dada of bias, saying she rejected the portions of evidence given by Jabila and Abdul that were favourable to them (al-Mustapha and Shofolahan).

 They submitted in their fifth grounds that, “The judgment is unreasonable, unwarranted and cannot be supported having regard to the totality of the evidence before the trial court.”

 Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued to react to the judgment.

 Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Tuesday hailed the judgment, saying it finally ensured that justice came the way of the dead.

 Amosun said this while speaking with journalists at the State Assembly Complex, Abeokuta on Tuesday.

 He said, “It is only signified that justice may take a long time to come but it will ultimately come.”

 Also, former Personal Assistant to Chief MKO Abiola, Lisa Olu Akerele, on Tuesday called on Nigerians not to weep for Al-Mustapha because “he was merely granted what he deserved in the nation’s quest of serving criminal justice.”

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