• Finally reopens Al-Mustapha’s murder case
Gboyega Akinsanmi and Akinwale Akintunde
The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it is not afraid of taking tough decisions on the General Overseer of Christian Praying Assembly (CPA), Mr. Chukwuemeka Ezeugo (a.k.a. Rev. King), and other condemned prisoners in the state.
Likewise, the state government said it had appealed the July 12, 2013, judgment of the Court of Appeal which discharged and acquitted Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha of the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, disclosed this at a ministerial news conference he addressed alongside his information and strategy counterpart, Mr. Steve Ayorinde.
A Lagos High Court had sentenced Ezeugo to death by hanging on January 11, 2007, for the murder of his church member, Ann Uzoh. Subsequently, his death sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Since the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, however, the administration has not yet signed the death warrants of Ezeugo and other condemned prisoners.
But at the conference on Tuesday, the attorney-general said the state government was not afraid of taking tough decisions, noting that it had started reviewing the issues of condemned prisoners in the state.
Kazeem said he had already visited prisons in the state on the instruction of the state Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and the state was seriously considering action on the cases of the condemned prisoners.
He said previous administrations did not sign death warrants of the convicts on the death row, noting that the governor has the prerogative whether to sign their death warrant or not.
“A lot of people are on death row. Rev. King is not the only one. It is on the instruction of Ambode that I visited the prisons recently and I discussed the issue of condemned inmates with the prison officials.
“We are moving in that direction of taking decision on the condemned prisoners. The prison officials said we need to look at it seriously. A number of them on death row have exhausted their appeals and something must be done about them . But you will hear from us very soon. I will not tell you the exact date,” he said.
On Major Al-Mustapha, Kazeem said the state government had re-opened the case, adding that the state government would definitely ensure that justice was done on the murder of Kudirat Abiola.
Al-Mustapha was allegedly fingered in the murder of the late Kudirat Abiola, but he won the case in the Court of Appeal. However, the Supreme Court had given the state government the nod to re-open the case.
Kudirat was a wife of the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola. She was allegedly murdered by Al-Mustapha, Mohammed Abacha and Lateef Shofolahan who were on a two-count criminal charge of conspiracy and murder.
The state government urged the Supreme Court to uphold and restore the death sentence by hanging, which a Lagos High Court awarded against al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, on January 30, 2012.
