Though
he has spent one year on the death row and is awaiting his appeal to be heard,
Major Hamza Al-Mustapha is still grabbing the headlines, this time for the
right reasons.
The
former Chief Security Officer to the late head of state Gen. Sani Abacha, who
was last year sentenced to death for his role in the murder of Alhaja Kudirat
Abiola, has mobilised funds from friends and associates for the reconstruction
of a mosque in the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons in Lagos.
His
lawyer, Barrister Olalekan Ojo, who revealed this to Blueprint in an exclusive interview yesterday,
said the almighty God was still using his client to add value to Islam.
According
to Ojo, “Even in the prison, the almighty Allah is using Mustapha. The almighty
Allah has used him to reconstruct the mosque inside the Kirikiri Maximum
Prison.
“Even
in prison, he was able to convince some of his friends and associates to put
down money for the renovation of the mosque. Now, the mosque is taking a
magnificient shape, with over 80 per cent of the job already completed”.
The
mosque, Ojo said, would be ready for commissioning in a month’s time.
The
counsel, who has defended the former security chief for over a decade, said his
client, in spite of his present travails, was in very high spirits because of
his belief that one day he would come out a free man.
“The
last time I saw Major Al-Mustapha, just a few days before the New Year, he was
his usual self. He was in high spirits and the reason for his always being in
high spirits is that he believes he will get justice from the Court of Appeal
where we are disputing the death verdict he received from a Lagos High Court”.
Ojo
added: “Al-Mustapha believes strongly that the appellate court will give him
justice, which he did not get at the lower court because he did not commit the
crime for which he was sentenced”.
On
the appeal, the counsel said it could likely be heard in April, adding that at
the moment they were at the point of exchanging briefs.
He
dismissed widespread insinuations that the appeal was being frustrated by some
powerful interests..
“No,
the appeal is not being frustrated. So far we are on course. Everything is on
course, and we are at the point of exchanging briefs. The appellate court will
likely hear the appeal by March or April”.
Al-Mustapha
and Mr Lateef Sofolahan were sentenced to die by hanging on January 30, 2012 by
Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court, having been found guilty of the
June 4, 1996 murder of the wife of the late business mogul, Bashorun M.K.O.
Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
The
sentence closed a chapter in one of the longest running legal battles in the
country’s judicial history.
However,
Ojo opened a new chapter in the case immediately by storming the Court of
Appeal to challenge the death verdict which he described as a miscarrage of
justice.
Source:
Blueprint
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