The Supreme Court has formally brought to an end efforts by the Lagos State Government to revive the murder trial of former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), over the killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji dismissed the appeal after finding that Lagos State had abandoned the case for nearly a decade.
Kudirat Abiola, wife of the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola—the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election—was assassinated in Lagos on June 4, 1996, during nationwide unrest following the annulment and her sustained pro-democracy campaign.
The Lagos State Government had sought to challenge the July 12, 2013 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha after setting aside his death sentence.
Although the Supreme Court, in 2014, granted Lagos permission to re-open the case and ordered it to file a notice of appeal within 30 days, the state failed to take any further steps.
At Thursday’s proceedings, Lagos State was absent and had no legal representation. No court processes had been filed since the 2014 order.
Counsel to Al-Mustapha, Paul Daudu, SAN, told the court that the state had not demonstrated any seriousness in prosecuting the appeal, noting that no notice of appeal was filed even nine years after the court’s directive. He urged the justices to strike out the matter on grounds of abandonment.
Justice Aba-Aji, after confirming that Lagos State had been duly served with hearing notices, ruled that the prolonged inaction amounted to a clear loss of interest in the case. She held that nine years was more than sufficient time for the appellant to comply with the court’s order.
The court also expressed concern over the failure of the state to appear or provide any explanation for its absence, describing the conduct as unacceptable in a matter of such national significance.
Consequently, the appeal marked SC/CR/45/2014 was dismissed. A related appeal filed by the Lagos State governor, marked SC/CR/6/2014, was also struck out on the same grounds.
In 2014, a seven-man panel of the Supreme Court, presided over by then Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, had granted Lagos State an extension of time to appeal against the acquittal of Al-Mustapha.
The court ordered the state to file its notice of appeal within 30 days, extending the window for appeal from July 12, 2013 to January 7, 2014.
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Lagos State had argued at the time that it intended to challenge the Court of Appeal’s verdict on grounds of alleged miscarriage of justice, insisting there were arguable legal and factual issues, including whether sufficient direct or circumstantial evidence linked Al-Mustapha to the murder.
The state also sought the restoration of the death sentence imposed by a Lagos High Court on January 30, 2012, which had convicted Al-Mustapha, Mohammed Abacha, and the late Lateef Shofolahan of conspiracy and murder.
However, the Court of Appeal, in its 2013 judgment delivered by Justices Amina Augie, Rita Pemu, and Fatimo Akinbami, ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecution was insufficient to sustain the conviction, leading to the discharge and acquittal of the accused.
With Thursday’s ruling, the Supreme Court has effectively closed the chapter on the long-running legal battle surrounding the murder of Kudirat Abiola, affirming that the Lagos State Government’s failure to act amounted to an abandonment of its case.