The special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on media and publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, has said that the presidency cannot call for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha and a business mogul, the late Chief M.K. O. Abiola, as the issue has come up in the ongoing murder trial of a former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Gen. Abacha, Major Hamza A-Mustapha.
The presidential aide, who spoke to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY in an exclusive interview, said investigation into the deaths of Abacha and Abiola would not only harm the ongoing trial but could be misconstrued as an interference into a Lagos State Government’s case.
Abati also challenged Nigerians to put the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to test if they wish to access the security report on the circumstances surrounding the illness and eventual death of former President Umaru Yar’Adua rather than wait for the president to willingly volunteer information.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mallam Yusuf Ali has however, refuted the idea that it would be subjudice or prejudicial for an investigation to be conducted, saying that if either of Abacha or Abiola was murdered, it would make it a criminal matter and therefore, the security agencies are obliged to carry out an investigation. Ali said, “I am not aware of any civil matter on this. Nobody has taken an injunction against an investigation. If a crime has been committed, it is the prerogative of the security agencies to look into the circumstances and see whether if there was foul play or no foul play.” Al-Mustapha who is being prosecuted by the Lagos State Government for the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, had alleged in his testimony that both Abiola and Abacha were also murdered. But
Abati said the disclosure was that of Al-Mustapha personal opinion. He said, “it would be considered prejudicial for the president to order an investigation into these two issues and with our environment and partisan nature, the president could be seen as trying to interfere in the case.” He said, “The issue has been coming up in the case and people have been commenting left and right. We should allow the court to close the case.”
On the declassification of government records and the official reports of all other past leaders, Abati said, “The FOI law empowers Nigerians to seek information. It is not the personal responsibility of the president to just make information available, it is up to Nigerians.” While Nigerians remain curious about all that happened when late Yar’Adua was flown to Saudi Arabia for treatment and secretly flown back to the country, official government documents of earlier events like the 1966 coup that led to the killing of Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa are yet to be made public. Abati however, said that a Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka had also asked questions relating to how Yar’Adua died and gaining access to government records and his response to all Nigerians was to put the FOI law to test.?