The Supreme Court has dismissed the long-running trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), former Chief Security Officer to ex-military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, in connection with the murder of Mrs. Kudirat Abiola.

During proceedings, Lagos State was expected to reopen the trial. However, no legal representation appeared for the state, and no court process had been filed since 2014, when permission to reopen the case was granted in its favour.

Counsel to Al-Mustapha, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), informed the apex court that Lagos State had failed to take any step to implement the order granted in 2014.

He told the justices that the state had not even filed a notice of appeal to demonstrate seriousness in prosecuting the case.

Mr. Daudu explained that when the order to reopen the trial was granted in 2014, Lagos State was given 30 days to file its notice of appeal.

According to him, more than nine years later, the state had failed to comply with the order. He therefore urged the court to hold that the appellant had abandoned the case and to dismiss it in its entirety.

Presiding over the matter, Justice Uwani Aba-Aji sought clarification on whether Lagos State had been served with hearing notices. The Registrar of the court confirmed that it had.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that Lagos State had lost interest in the matter and had consequently abandoned the case.

Justice Aba-Aji ruled that nine years was more than sufficient for the appellant to have filed a notice of appeal and a brief of argument.

The court also expressed displeasure that Lagos State made no legal representation and provided no information to the court or the respondent, despite being served with hearing notices since 2020.

Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.

Mrs. Kudirat Abiola was the wife of businessman and politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election.

She was murdered in Lagos during the nationwide unrest that followed the annulment, while actively campaigning for the restoration of the mandate.

Another related matter filed by the Lagos State Government arising from the same trial was also dismissed on similar grounds.

The Supreme Court had, in 2014, granted Lagos State permission to reopen the case out of time, allowing it to challenge the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on July 12, 2013, which discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha.

In that ruling, a seven-member panel of justices led by the then Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, ordered Lagos State to file its notice of appeal within 30 days.

The decision followed arguments by Ms. Osunsanya Oluwayemisi, a Senior State Counsel in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, and the consent of Al-Mustapha’s counsel, Mr. Daudu, who did not oppose the application.

Justice Onnoghen had ruled that the time for Lagos State to appeal against the Court of Appeal judgment of July 12, 2013, was extended to January 7, 2014.

With the permission granted in 2014, Lagos State sought to challenge the not-guilty verdict delivered by Justices Amina Adamu Augie, Rita Nosakhare Pemu, and Fatimo Omoro Akinbami, alleging a miscarriage of justice.

The state argued that it intended to raise substantial legal and factual issues, particularly whether there was sufficient direct or circumstantial evidence to establish Al-Mustapha’s guilt.

It attributed its delay in filing the appeal to the time taken by two legal teams set up to review the case and the appellate court’s verdict.

Lagos State had indicated its intention to ask the Supreme Court to set aside the Court of Appeal judgment and restore the death sentence imposed on Al-Mustapha by a Lagos High Court on January 30, 2012.

Al-Mustapha, Mr. Mohammed Abacha, and Mr. Lateef Shofolahan were arraigned before the Lagos High Court on a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit murder and the murder of Mrs. Abiola on June 4, 1996.

In a judgment delivered on January 30, 2012, Justice Moji Dada found the defendants guilty and sentenced them to death by hanging.

However, on appeal, the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision delivered on July 12, 2013, set aside the conviction, discharged, and acquitted the accused, ruling that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the death sentence.