Hafsat Al-Mustapha is the wife of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha sentenced to death recently, after a marathon 14-year trial, by a Lagos High Court over his involvement in the killing of Kudirat Abiola, wife of late Moshood Abiola. In this interview with SALISU IBRAHIM, Hafsat expresses shock and alleges the judgment was political and a game-plan just to get rid of him. She also spoke on other related issues. Excerpts:
Please what’s your name and what’s your relationship with Major Hamza Al-Mustapha?
I’m Hafsat Hamza Al-Mustapha, wife of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.?
Some days ago, a court in Lagos delivered a judgment which sentenced Major Hamza Al-Mustapha to death by hanging. What was your immediate reaction to this verdict?
I received it with shock and disbelief. One, because this man had already spent at least 14 years incarceration and secondly there was no tangible evidence to warrant this kind of judgment. All the accusations making the rounds were not sufficient enough and tangible to nail him. First of all, he was arrested for alleged coup plotting during Abdussalami Abubakar’s regime but he was cleared. They detained him with the police, the army handed him over to the police and then they brought up this charges of killing Kudirat and the rest. He was taken to Kirikiri prison. Inside Kirikiri Prison, the nation’s maximum prison, he was re-arrested there for coup plotting against Obasanjo. The case lingered and lingered and the case against Obasanjo was dismissed. He was discharged and acquitted so they have nothing to hold onto and nail him, except the alleged killing of Kudirat Abiola. This is what they relied upon to pass the judgment. But to me, the conviction is nothing but political. It is conviction at all cost.?
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Are you convinced with the court’s procedure that found him guilty which led to his sentencing to death by hanging?
Never at all, the judgment is never close to my acceptance, because throughout the case, Al-Mustapha never accepted that he did what they are accusing him with. To crown it all even the government witnesses at a time came to the court and confessed openly that they have been given houses, money and were promised some juicy appointments abroad and the rest of it, just to nail him. In a civilized and very good country I think that case would have come to a close that day but in-spite of all these confessions, they continued with it. That is why I said, the judgment was nothing but conviction at all cost.
Do you read any political undertones in the judgement?
Very well; the judgment is full of politics, even a layman can tell you the judgment is political. One thing is that they have done their judgment but we have to await the judgment of Allah because this one is a political judgment. Even a lay man will know that what they did is political. Look at it this way – whereby somebody will come and say it is not true what I told the court, so so persons told me to come and say this yet you went ahead and nailed them. That is why I said it is political, nothing else because he was not the only person that was arrested? in the case of Kudirat. So many people were arrested, even in the coup plotting it is a drama; it is just a play and? a drama to show that we have arrested so and so but they were released and allowed to go. The only thing they insisted on is that they want to get at Mustapha.
Why do you think they want to get at him?
I really don’t know. They have their own reasons, but certainly, I don’t know.
Did you ever suspect any reason why they wanted to get at him as you‘ve alleged?
I really don’t know why they want to get at him.
Did you suspect any kind of interference particularly from those that have worked along with him while he was in active service?
Well, I don’t want to call names or point at anybody but from recent events where a judgment was passed, Rabo Lawal was discharged and acquitted and that Al- Mustapha had some questions to answer. He made mention of why they are still holding him that money has changed hands and that is why they don’t want anybody to know, so let them nail him.
Were you able to see him or have a chat with him after the judgment was made?
No, I did not. I did not.??
Have you been given opportunity to see him where he was awaiting trial?
Well yes. I have been going there from time to time. To go there however, is not too often, because of the expenses involved. I go there when there is chance to do that. In fact, the rigour one encounters whenever I have to go there; you take a paper, you apply, you go with passport photograph, you have to wait, before they approve for you to see him. And when you see him you have at least one hour or two hours maximum and then you come back. The taxi, the accommodation in Lagos, flight ticket and all these for a single mother like me is not easy. You see I have to refer myself as a single mother, because it is not easy, so I go when I have the chance.
Will the family appeal the Judgment?
Of course yes. Immediately they passed the judgment we have already appealed.
Do you ever have the feeling that Al-Mustapha knows very much about the government? Would that be reason for his incarceration for so long?????
Of course, we are all Nigerians. When he mentioned that this is what? happened, a video was played in the court, an audio visual was shown and everybody have seen some of the people that went and collected money from the government that they should keep quiet over the killing of Abiola and all that. I’m sorry to say, some section of the media have tried to play it down that the video was not even audible, that Al-Mustapha was talking about dead people. But there are people who are still living and they went to the Villa and we all know them. So, if you are a security officer of course you will know top secrets of the government, and if you work diligently you will know very much. But he kept quiet all these years without saying anything.
Fourteen years he did not say anything, but when they insisted that they wanted to get at him and kill him, he has to talk. He is a human being; otherwise if they had released him? with Rabo Lawal, I believe Mustapha would not have said anything. Some people have even approached me and proposed that if he will say bad things against the Abacha’s he will be released. I said, if it is me I will do it but Al-Mustapha will never do it. You don’t know this man; he will never get anybody implicated because he wants to be free.
How did your family members receive the news of the death sentence passed on him by the court?
We received it with real shock and dismay and disbelief. We really received it with shock, if somebody spent these many years awaiting trial, in prison terms he has spent 20 years lingering everyday going to court; one will not expect this type of judgment. If they insisted that they must jail him at all cost, in fact, we did not expect death by hanging.
Afterall, Sergeant Rogers is walking free. He is the one that admitted he pulled the trigger against this woman Kudirat and today he is walking a free man. He has never been called for anything; he is enjoying the money he was paid. So somebody who admitted that I did it, is now free, and somebody who insisted that I did not do it – that is Mustapha – they still want to hang him. So there must be a reason. But even if he knows too much, he did not say it until when he was pushed to the wall. But did he say anything at all?
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How have you been coping all this while without a bread winner for the family?
Al-hamdulillah, I believe in Allah. There is a proverb in Hausa that says ‘bakin da Allah ya tsaga ba zai hana shi abinci ba’, meaning (God does not deny His creatures. He always provides sustainability for all His creatures). And most importantly, I’m not a lazy woman. I look for my daily bread. I sweat to make ends meet. I do a lot of businesses; I buy I sell, so I’m not a lazy woman at all. That’s how I’m surviving.
Al-Mustapha was reported to have said that he was not bothered with the judgment. How do you react to this?
You see, the whole thing is political; it is a game being played with his life. There is nowhere in the whole world that you can put this case of Al-Mustapha that everybody will not believe that it is just a game plan by some people to get rid of him. It is really political.
Are you confident after this judgment, he will come out free following your appeal?
Insha Allah, with Allah there is nothing impossible. This is a judgment of people, judgment of just few people that have their own agenda but Allah’s judgment is the ultimate.
Do you have children with him?
I do.
How many are they?
I want to leave that to myself.??
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