Opinion: What’s next for Hamza al-Mustapha?

Posted by admin Headlines Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

By Sabella Abidde (sabidde@yahoo.com)

Now that Major Hamza al-Mustapha is free, Nigerians will like to know who killed Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on Tuesday, June 4, 1996. Who ordered her killing, and who pulled the trigger? The living and the dead deserve justice. But first, an abridged version of history.

From August 5, 1967 until his death on October 5, 1969, Col. Shittu Akanji Alao was the second indigenous Chief of Air Staff of the Nigerian Air Force. The official version of his death, as indicated by his successor, Brig. Emmanuel Ebije Ikwue, was that Alao was “on a solo flight in an L-29 aircraft in the South-Western part of the country when he ran into bad weather and subsequently ran out of fuel. He made an emergency landing but unfortunately ran into a tree and died in the process.” It was that simple. But not many believed this account of events.

The contending narrative was that the 32-year-old Alao was murdered: “shot and killed and his killers staged the helicopter crash.” Did the Nigerian Armed Forces kill one of its officers?

This other version of events was given credence when an autopsy report allegedly written by Dr. Adeyemi G. Ademola (the Chief Medical Officer, Federal Ministry of Health and brother of Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, then Chief Justice of Nigeria) was said to have refuted the official report. Sadly, Ademola was assassinated at his Ikoyi residence by “unknown soldiers” on October 23, 1970.

Was Ademola killed because he “refused to alter the autopsy report on Alao”? We don’t know. However, more than four decades after both men were killed – assuming they were killed — we still do not have a satisfactory answer as to what truly happened. By the way, what happened to the original autopsy report written by Ademola?

There are others, but these were two of the earliest known cases of unsolved assassinations in post-independence Nigeria. In the intervening years, there may have been some 10,000 high and low profile assassinations. In the vast majority of these cases, their killers were never found. And so, just as we may never know who killed Dele Giwa, Bola Ige, Jerry Agbeyegbe and Funsho Williams – we may never know who ordered and who killed Mrs. Kudirat Abiola.

Publicly, we may never know their killers. However, in every instance, there are people (three or more) who know what happened: there are people out there who know who the killers are — many of them may still be alive. At the very least, there are people out there with verifiable account of what happened and why. But unless we have irrefutable confessions or excellent investigative and prosecutorial work, we may never know who committed these atrocities.

In the case of Mrs. Abiola, the Nigerian Police and related organisations assigned with the task of finding her killers mangled the investigation. The prosecutors also garbled the case. Then some despicable politicians and judges injected vile politics into the matter.

Did al-Mustapha kill Kudirat? Or did he order her killing? That was and still remains the question. Knowing the answer was one of the principal responsibilities of the Nigeria government: Knowing and bringing justice to the victim and the accused. But the government failed woefully. On one level, the Nigerian government failed the Abiola family (by being unprofessional). And on the other level, it failed al-Mustapha (by not according him speedy trial). In sane judicial systems, it is better to allow the guilty go free than to incarcerate the innocent. In this instance, there seems to be no irrefutable evidence that points to al-Mustapha’s guilt.

Those who commit crimes should be made to pay. They should be punished. That is the law. But the law also requires that you prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. It requires that you follow due process; that you investigate and prosecute the case in a just manner. There should be no room for politics. No witch-hunt. No mob-mentality. No revenge. No ethnic and or religious considerations. And for sure, there should be no “conviction by all means necessary.” That is not justice. That is not how you grow the legal system. That is not how to advance democracy. You do so by an unwavering commitment to common sense and to the law and the constitution.

Hamza al-Mustapha has been freed now for a couple of weeks. In spite of the judicial scolding by the Court of Appeal directed at the Lagos High Court, there are those who believe that he was freed because of the politics of the 2015 elections. And also because of the Boko Haram menace. In essence, political settlement is what some people think this is. This may be true, it may also be false. What matters now are two questions: First, who killed Kudirat Abiola? And second, what’s next for al-Mustapha?

For a nation that has not been able to answer “Who killed Alao…Ademola…Giwa and Ige,” she may never be able to satisfactorily answer “who killed Kudirat Abiola?” As for al-Mustapha, well, only he and he alone can venture an answer as to what’s next for him.

Be that as it may, if you listen carefully to chatters, you will hear voices who believe that he (al-Mustapha) got away with blue murder. You will hear others say he did them wrong. That he made their lives a living hell. That he helped to cut short their careers. That he was General Sani Abacha’s gatekeeper and hangman. In different alleys across the country, some of the aggrieved seem to be waiting for him. They want their pound of flesh. They may get it, or he may get them.

I don’t know al-Mustapha. Still, I would advise him to stay out of the limelight for a while. He should refuse courtesy calls. And also refrain from making any. He needs to rest. He needs to consult medical professionals. He also needs to catch up with his friends and family. But beyond that, he needs to take time off to reflect on his past and his future. There is nothing he can do about his past; but there is a whole lot he can do about his future. For the next couple of years, he must avoid sectional or party politics; and must also resist any kind of leadership role.

He should be wary of those who are edging him on, lying that he is the saviour they’ve been waiting for. Essentially, I am suggesting he takes it slow. Take a breather. Take a swim. Walk in the park. Reread the Quran. And engage in deep thought and deep conversation with his conscience.

Finally, it makes no sense to fight former colleagues and bosses. Or to reveal secrets. What’s there to be gained? The Nigerian military has moved on, and Nigeria itself has changed since the last time he was a free man. He may have received a hero’s welcome; but really, such a welcome will dissipate when he starts to step on people’s toes. What does he really want?

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