The celebrated trial of Al Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to Nigeria’s late maximum dictator, General Sanni Abacha, continued at the Lagos High Court today with explosive revelations by the defendant.
The celebrated trial of Al Mustapha, the former Chief Security Officer to Nigeria’s late maximum dictator, General Sanni Abacha, continued at the Lagos High Court today with explosive revelations by the defendant.
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Under cross examination by the prosecution, led by Lawal Pedro (SAN), Al Mustapha denied several acts linked to the Abacha regime in which he was a strong player. But he admitted that the Abacha regime ran a shadowy death squad, the "Special Strike Force (SF), which he, Mustapha, controlled. The deadly squad existed alongside specially-trained Bodyguards also known as "BG" that were used to ''contain/repel all aggressive/offensive attacks on the government.”
Mustapha told the court that the Strike Force was created by NSB on January 2, 1995 and began work in May of that year. Its members were sent for training in Libya while the Bodyguards (BG) went to North Korea for their welfare and just trainings because ''we would even give better trainings here in Nigeria.''
The former military officer also made the startling disclosure that although the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) was a strong opposition to the Abacha's regime, the military was the most formidable opposition to Abacha, and from them, “we contained over four coup attempts.''
In what seemed like a repetition of the excuse military officials have often used to justify taking over power in Nigeria, he stated, ''No military government ever comes into existence on its own without an agreement between the military and some civilian leaders and this marriage is continuous until when personality clash comes in causing a rift.”
Al Mustapha told the court that the then Inspector General of police signed the arrest warrant of Abiola. “The arrest was not under my control,” he said. “Abiola was brought under my watch in Abuja after he complained about the police around him. I paid N800,000 quarterly for cooking his meals.''
Mustapha claimed he faced 10 different panels before he was transferred to Lagos for trial on Kudirat Abiola's death. He said that the statement credited to him in October 1999 in which he admitted complicity in the murder of Mrs. Abiola was made under torture and duress by the Special Investigative Panel (SIP) set up by the Abdusalam Abubakar regime. The SIP was chaired by the then Director General of the State Security Services, Mr Kayode Are.
According to him, ''The statement was declared as my visa to Lagos by members of the SIP. The statement was dictation while I was blue-flamed from a nylon paper and also because my brother was in detention and I was allowed to see my children for the first time in 12 months since I was detained. I also did it because they will let me go to the prison and have access to a lawyer.''
He told the court that between the June 4, 1996 when Kudirat was killed and June 6, 1998 when Abacha died, the Nigerian police investigated Kudirat's death.
He also described Abacha as the most hated and misunderstood Head of State in Nigeria's history. Abacha’s coup, he said, was a ''change of course in the political history of Nigeria which was always agreed on by a consensus of military and civilian leaders'', adding that ''the person who suddenly found himself in power (Shonekan) called for rescue.''
He denied knowing the late Yoruba leader, Abraham Adesanya as well as Sulia Adedeji and Alfred Rewane. The names were asked of him because they had been either assassinated or an attempt was made on their lives during the Abacha regime. In what appeared to be the biggest lie of his cross examination Al Mustapha claimed no direct knowledge of their deaths, saying, ''I heard of their deaths in the news.''
The controversial army officer, who developed a reputation as one of the army’s most brutal, affirmed that he knew of the arrests of several pro-democracy activists during the Abacha regime but curiously claimed he knew nothing about the arrests. ''If I had being part of council (Military Ruling Council) that ordered their arrests, should be in this court to answer to their duties but I am the sacrificial lamb.''
Al Mustapha took today’s opportunity distance himself from the excesses of the Abacha era and to throw jabs at some military and civilian leaders of the era. ''Those people who stood against Abiola are people that are high-up there that cannot be brought to court,'' he said.
Al Mustapha however admitted having sent Rabo Lawal to Lagos three times to protect Abacha's properties after plans by NADECO to burn the house were uncovered.
In a broadside against the prosecution, he said, "the questions prosecution should ask is what happened on the day Abiola died. He slumped with his face down, how come all those that were in the room did not help him?"
He urged the court to demand that the security agencies should be prosecuted because, according to him, nobody is referring to what they found out about the events of that dark period in Nigeria’s history.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
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