The Lagos State government yesterday secured a request of the Supreme Court to re-open the murder instance recently Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, against Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), the previous Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Military Head of State General Sani Abacha.
The late Kudirat Abiola was the spouse of the late representative cum legislator, Chief MKO Abiola, the assumed champ of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election that was abrogated by previous President Ibrahim Babangida.
In a brief administering on Thursday, on the application conveyed by the Lagos State government to re-open the case, the summit court allowed the demand for the litigant to challenge the Court of Appeal choice of July 12, 2013 that released and absolved Al-Mustapha from the murder case.
However, responding to the court’s choice, Chairman of the Arewa Young Lawyers Forum (AYLF), Mr. Sadiq Abubakar Ilela, who saw the procedures, hailed the decision.
Ilela, who said he was in court with a few individuals from his gathering to show bolster for Al-Mustapha, said the leave conceded Lagos would permit the court to decide the case on legitimacy.
“We were in court to show support to the respondents. We put stock in the govern of law.
“We are persuaded that, with the decision, parties now have the chance to exhibit their cases under the watchful eye of the court to empower them settle on an educated choice and decide the case on legitimacy,” Ilela said.
A seven-man board of Justices of the Supreme Court headed by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, requested Lagos State to document its notice of claim inside 30 days.
The choice of Justice Onnoghen on the Lagos application contended by Osunsanya Oluwayemisi, a Senior State Counsel in the Lagos Ministry of Justice, took after the assent of Al-Mustapha’s attorney, Mr. Joseph Dauda SAN, not to restrict the application.
The acting CJN said that by the choice of the zenith court, the ideal opportunity for Lagos to bid against the discoveries of the Court of Appeal on the praised kill case has been stretched out from July 12, 2013 when the interest court judgment was conveyed till yesterday.
By the conceded authorization, the drift has been cleared for the Lagos to challenge the no blameworthy decision allowed for the ex military officer by the Court of Appeal just about four years prior.
In the new move to re-open the case, the Lagos State government had tried to record a notice of bid out of the time at the Supreme Court requesting the authorization of the court to permit it to challenge the Appeal Court discoveries of Justices Amina Adamu Augie, Rita Nosakhare Pemu and Fatimo Omoro Akinbami on ground of mis-carriage of Justice in the matter.
The state had in the application asked the zenith court to permit it to practice its protected ideal to test the legitimacy and accuracy of the choice of the Appeal Court.
It asserted that it needs to raise its ground of claim on doubtful lawful and verifiable issues particularly the subject of whether there is any immediate or conditional proof building up the blame passed on Al-Mustapha in the murder case.