Abiola’s death: Al Mustapha suffered injustice; Susan Rice dodged questions – Fasheun By Wale Odunsi on July 21, 2013 Dr. Frederick Fasehun, President, O’dua People’s Congress, has described the release of Major Al- Mustapha as a sign that democracy is the true manifestation of justice and truth. He said he was sympathetic to the course of Al- Mustapha because he knew he was suffering injustice. In an interview with Vanguard, Faseun said “I knew he was up against political giants who do not believe in truth and justice, whose goal is squandering money to suppress justice, and that was what happened. “Al-Mustapha was accused of conspiracy and murder; whereas, conspiracy is an element of at least two people and nobody has come out to say Al-Mustapha conspired with him because nobody can conspire with himself. He said that although the witnesses that gave evidence in court initially said Al-Mustapha gave them an assignment to kill Kudirat Abiola, no charges were levelled against him for the first two years of his arrest. “It took the Nigerian security system two years to file charges against Al-Mustapha, and when they cooked up charges against him, they brought few witnesses who gave evidence that Al-Mustapha sent them on the assignment to kill Kudirat Abiola. However, three years ago,those witnesses appeared in court again saying they lied against an innocent man. Exonerating him of the allegation, the National Leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria said, “The day Kudirat was murdered, Al-Mustapha was getting married in his village in Kano State. So how was it possible for him to have been involved in the murder of Kudirat? After the wedding, Al- Mustapha went for his honeymoon and yet, the judge gave her judgment on those retracted evidence. On his contributions to Al-Mustapha’s release, he said, “I took interest to look into it and realised what we had was injustice in the decision of the High Court. Al-Mustapha went to the Appeal Court under Justice Aminat, and the court reversed the High Court’s judgment. The High Court had written 366 pages of judgment in search of dishonesty, falsehood and lies. But, the Appeal Court was able to have its head screwed to its neck. And in this case, three heads were better than one. Recalling his reaction, the day Al-Mustapha was sentenced to death, the OPC leader said he thought Al-Mustapha would be released. “I stormed out of the court, because on that day, the presiding Judge used some abusive and biased words even before they were sentenced. I attended virtually all the court proceedings and even the day after the sentence, the reports in the newspapers were the opposite of what really happened. “Al-Mustapha’s words were exaggerated and that was enough to make him commit suicide, believing that the entire society was mobilised against him. But thanks to God and some noble Nigerians who had the nerves to intervene. When asked his message to the Abiola family, Faseun replied that “We regret the death of their parents, but they should insist on justice. Perhaps, the case can be reopened. This murder case should not be swept under the carpet like some other cases in Nigeria. “Besides, when Chief Abiola was in detention, there was evidence that Al-Mustapha gave him special treatment which Al-Mustapha himself said in court. He also said there was a time when Abiola was going to be killed by the authorities and when the news filtered to his hearing, he had to change Abiola’s room. “He also testified about how he arranged for Kudirat to see her husband whenever she wanted. When the Americans paid Abiola a visit at the prison, Al-Mustapha was not there. That has been certified by Susan Rice, former Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Nations. Fasheun then retorted: “When Rice was questioned on that issue, she said, ‘Don’t ask me, ask Abdulsalami."
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 18:06:31 +0000
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