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Abdulsalami wanted Obasanjo killed, Al-Mustapha tells court
Ayokunle Oloye Newsdiaryonline Thur Aug
4,2011
Former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to late military Ruler,
General Sani Abacha, Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha has told Justice
Mojisola Dada of Lagos
High Court in Igbosere that former Head of State, General
Abdusalami Abubakar, wanted ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
executed in 1995 for coup plotting.
While concluding his defence in
the criminal case of complicity in the murder of Alhaja
Kudirat Abiola, wife of the self acclaimed winner of June 12,
1993 Presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, Almustapha
maintained that Abdusalami insisted at the Military Council
Meeting presided over by Abacha in 1995 that Obasanjo was the
most irresponsible human being he has ever came across and that
he (Obasanjo) deserved to be executed.
Al-Mustapha said Abdusalami at the meeting, insisted that the
Military Decree on coup plotting promulgated in 1976 when
Obasanjo was the Military Head of State, should be applied to
him (Obasanjo). The Decree stipulates that
anybody found to have
participated in coup planning, would be executed.
The former CSO added that, “I have the video tape illegally and
I even sent a copy to General Obasanjo with a note where I asked
him to be very careful and be watchful. Al-Mustapha stressed
that after Abacha’s death, there was serious power play as to
who would succeed him, but that through the help of God, he
helped Abdusalami to become the Head of State.
He said: “General Abdusalami who initiated the whole blackmail
against me was not the best at that particular time, but that
was how God used me to prevent bloodbath in this country.
“Those against Abdusalami then had even planned that he should
go to the United Nations Organisation with Military Uniform.
"Through intelligence, I was able to decode that game plan
and sent same to Abdusalami.
The CSO who had earlier led evidence to how former Federal
Attorney General and Justice Minister, Bola Ige and former
Afenifere leader, Abraham Adesanya were tricked by Abdusalami
into working against the Presidential mandate of Moshood Abiola,
said a day after Abiola’s death, the Yoruba leaders visited Aso
Rock, and were hosted by both Abdusalami and his National
Security Adviser (NSA), Abdullahi Mohammed.
He said it was the same Mohammed that later became Obasanjo’s
Chief of Staff in 1999, adding that the said Mohammed addressed
a letter to all the Ministries and Government parastatals
directing them to accord Abdusalami all the necessary support he
may need against him at the Oputa Panel. The video clip of
Yoruba leaders’ visit to Aso Rock were later shown in court. In
the video clip, Adesanya was seen in company of other leaders
including Ige, addressing journalists on the outcome of the
meeting with Abdusalami. Adesanya, in the video, stated that
they were happy that Abdusalami promised to look into their
position.
“The Head of State conceded to our point that there
should be Government of National Unity (GNU) and that there
should be a Sovereign National Conference to fashion out new
Constitution” Adesanya said.
When reporters further asked him about who would become the Head
of the GNU, Adesanya replied that they were not proposing
anybody yet, but that Abiola would certainly not head the GNU.
The court also admitted the photocopy of a letter written by
Al-Mustapha to Ige as exhibit.
Despite objection from the lead prosecution counsel, Lawal
Pedro (SAN), the court admitted the letter in evidence and
marked as exhibit D14.
In the letter, part of which was read by Al-Mustapha in court,
Ige was said to have been told how he was unconsciously used in
the murder of Abiola, reminding Ige that his appointment as the
AGF was just to reward him for the role he played in the event
that led to Abiola’s death.He also challenged Ige’s family to
look into his archives and bring out the original copy of the
letter.
When asked by his lawyer, Olalekan Ojo to speak more on the
allegation he had earlier made that the game plan was that he
should be killed or kept perpetually in prison, Al-Mustapha said
when he and others were arraigned before a Lagos Magistrate
Court, they were subjected to highly demeaning and harsh
treatment.
He said the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu was then a Superintendent of
police and was the escorting officer, and that
he (Ribadu) was under instruction that they should be killed.
“The Magistrate had finished with us. But they kept us in Black
Maria under the sun in the court premises and we were in chains.
They even instructed the driver to be reckless and drove the
Black Maria garagara (meaning to be reckless).
“That was where the world garagara originated because up
till today, the first greeting between Black Maria drivers and
myself is the word garagara.
“Infact, when the former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro,
who was then the Lagos State Commissioner of Police saw the
inhuman treatment, there was serious argument between his team
and Ribadu’s team.
“It was Okiro that insisted that we should not be killed.
“I am a victim of political intimidation. When Abiola’s family
filled a suit against the Federal Government, I was contacted in
prison to testify against Abiola but I refused. It is on record
that Mrs Stella Omiyi of the Directorate of Public Prosecution
(DPP) came to the prison. The records are there at the prisons
for anyone to find out. When they could not succeed with that,
they came up again with another game plan that I was plotting
coup in detention.
“If I am indeed that bad person, they want people to believe;
would I have changed on several occasions Abiola’s detention
centre? At times when there were threats, I changed houses for
him (Abiola) – which did not go down well with many including
Abdusalami.
“There are bigger and bigger issues for intellectuals in this
country to find out. "Abiola’s family is my family. If Chief
Abiola were to be alive today, I will not be here. I think he
was right to have called me his son because he was so closed to
me that he told me things about his businesses.
“I am a Muslim. I am fasting. I told this court the truth and I
stood by it. "I am a victim of political intimidation. The
script of my prosecution in court was written by Abdusalami and
Lagos is only prosecuting,” Al-Mustapha said as he closed his
case.
The the matter has been adjourned till Monday August 8, 2011 for
cross examination.
Al-Mustapha had on Wednesday explained in graphic details, how a
former Federal Attorney General and Justice Minister, Bola Ige
and a former Afenifere leader, Pa Abraham Adesanya were
unknowingly induced to work against the mandate willfully given
to the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola on June 12, 1993.
Al-Mustapha, who has been standing trial over alleged complicity
in the murder of Abiola’s wife, Kudirat, told Justice Mojisola
Dada that the former Head of State, General Abdusalami
Abubakar deceived Ige in the name of serving as a liaison
officer between the presidency and the aggrieved South West
leaders.
While being led in evidence by his lawyer, Olalekan Ojo,
Al-Mustapha recalled that after Abacha’s death, General Oladipo
Diya who was supposed to take over as Head of State, was
imprisoned for coup plotting, and then Abdusalami took over.
He said he was still in the Villa at that particular time and
was in the process of handling over to the new Chief Security
Officer, adding that by the virtue of his presence in the Villa,
he was able to retrieve a memo from counter espionage
photocopier machine signed by Abdusalami and the then National
Security Adviser (NSA), General Abdullahi Mohammed.
In the memo, Al-Mustapha said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
governor was directed to withdraw funds from the treasury. The
memo was with reference number NSA/A/320/5 and was dated July 8,
1998 and was tendered admitted as exhibit D12. He said the
publisher of Abuja Mirror and senior brother to the former
Inspector General of Police, Abidina Commassie also got the memo
through a source in the CBN. He alleged that unfortunately,
Abideen was poisoned while planning to publish the memo.
While giving background to the massive withdrawal of money from
the CBN, Al-Mustapha recalled that Abdusalami instructed the
then NSA to raise a memo requesting for funds and disguised as
if the funds were meant to take care of visitors to the
Presidency both
internationally and within the country; to service Presidential
Aircraft fleet and to take care of logistics of the soldiers in
Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Part of the money - $200 million, £75 million, and N500 million,
according to Al-Mustapha, was used to appease South West leaders
and douse tension that trailed Abiola’s death.
According to the witness, the instruction to raise the memo was
less than twenty-four hours after the death of Abiola on July 8,
1998.
He added that after the approval of the memo, the CBN governor
was specifically instructed on phone to bring the money in cash
to Aso Rock.
“I was there when the money was brought in brown buses. I
witnessed it when the buses containing the money were being
offloaded,” he said.
He said he had discussion with Julius Berger engineers who told
him that they were constructing a building with big underground
safe in Abdusalami Minna farm.
“Some of the bullion vans were moved to Minna. I was shocked and
surprised that the national resources were being used in that
manner. That was why I decided to monitor the situation of
things in the Villa.
On the activities of Yoruba leaders coordinated by Ige, he said
Ige was unknowingly tricked by Abdusalami to work against the
realization of Abiola’s mandate and to delay him in detention
for him to be killed.
He said: “I was in the Presidency and was in the process of
handling over to the new Chief Security Officer on one hand and
with Abdusalami on the other hand. I was briefing General
Abdusalami on issues of national security. I also drafted a
16-point agenda with Abdusalami. Part of the agenda was Chief
Abiola’s release from detention and short transition programme.
“Along the line, I was asked to hand over issues about Chief
Abiola to late Chief Bola Ige. He (Ige) was appointed as a
liaison officer between the Presidency and the South West. Chief
Igecontinued to bring South West leaders to the Presidency
against our initial plan to let M.K.O Abiola go home or to be
given his mandate within a short time.
“After the death of Abiola and during one of the visits by the
Yoruba leaders to Aso Rock. This particular visit was led by
Chief Abraham Adesanya. When they got to the Villa, they were
visibly angry, annoyed and mad and refused to speak to the press
men
within the Villa.
“But when they were leaving, their comments were totally the
reversal order from the situation on ground in the country. They
were very happy while leaving! The reaction and comments by late
Pa Abraham Adesanya on the situation in the country at that
particular
time clearly puts June 12 issue as secondary and they were
saying that no matter what, the country must forge ahead.
“There were two cameras that captured the visit; one was for the
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), while the other one was for
me. I stationed and instructed my bodyguard to capture the whole
thing.
“That was one of the major reasons why Abdusalami had to seize
everything I had including documents, tapes and even my shoes.
“Whether Chief Bola Ige knew that he was used to murder Chief
Abiola is another
matter entirely because I wrote him an 11-page letter between
June and July, 2001 titled: How you were unconsciously used in
the murder of Chief M.K.O Abiola.”
Absolving himself of complicity in Kudirat’s death, Al-Mustapha
told the court that his plight was due to the fact that he knew
a lot about what happened at the material time.
He said in order to nail him at all cost, solders who served
under him as members of body guards and strike force including
his personal orderly were induced to give evidence against him
at the Special Investigation APanel (SIP) set up to investigate
the alleged crime.
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