Rogers Killed Our Mother on Al-Mustapha’s Orders, Kudirat Abiola’s Children Allege
Segun James
Twenty-six years after the murder of their mother and wife of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, her children have formally accused Major Hamza Al Mustapha, then Chief Security Officer to the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, of masterminding the act.
According to them, the killing was done by Sergeant Barnabas Mshelia otherwise known as Sergeant Rogers but on the orders of Al Mustapha.
Abiola’s children, in a press statement on behalf of her siblings, Khafila Abiola, faulted the report in which Al-Mustapha accused Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo of instigating Rogers to falsely claim that he (Al-Mustapha) was behind the assassination of Mrs. Abiola.
The children recalled proceedings of the Oputa Panel, where Sergeant Rogers freely stated that he assassinated the woman and attempted to murder Senator Abraham Adesanya and Chief Alex Ibru, Publisher of The Guardian newspaper, based on the orders of Major Al-Mustapha.
They claimed that, the evidence of Rogers was never challenged by Al-Mustapha and his lawyers at the Oputa Panel and that a Lagos State High Court convicted and sentenced agents of Al-Mustapha to imprisonment for the attempted murder of Senator Abraham Adesanya.
The statement read: “The Lagos State High Court also convicted and sentenced Al-Mustapha and his accomplices to death for the cold-blooded murder of our mother. Their subsequent acquittal by the Court of Appeal was most likely politically motivated. The appeal filed against the judgment is currently pending at the Supreme Court.
“However, Al-Mustapha may be counting on the pervasive culture of impunity in Nigeria to not only attempt to deny his dastardly role in the assassination of a defenceless woman, but to also now contemplate running for office, along with Mohammed Abacha, who was alleged to have provided his driver to convey the assassins to carry out the mission.
“Impunity lays waste to the promise of the democracy for which our dear mother paid the ultimate price. As those that oversaw her assassination now seek to rewrite the history of what they did, we are forced to seek justice for our beloved mother within a jurisdiction not for the political games that hold sway in Nigeria. Justice may be delayed but it must not be denied,” the statement stated.
