Emirs deny meeting over Al-Mustapha

FEBRUARY 3, 2012 BY OLUSOLA FABIYI, ABUJA 

Traditional rulers from the northern part of the country, who met in Kaduna on Tuesday, have denied meeting over the death sentence passed on the former Chief Security Officer to late Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, by a Lagos High Court.

The emirs said on Thursday that there was no iota of truth in the insinuation that they met to deliberate on the conviction of Al-Mustapha for the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.

It will be recalled that a Lagos High Court had sentenced Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan to death for the murder of Kudirat, who was the wife of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Moshood Abiola.

The Emirs, who reacted through the Emir of Kazaure, Dr. Najib Hussaini Adamu, debunked the insinuations in a section of the media that they met over the plight of Al-Mustapha.

He described the insinuation as “crude, false and uncharitable.”

In a statement in Abuja, Adamu confirmed that the emirs actually met in Kaduna, but insisted that the meeting had nothing to do with the conviction of Al-Mustapha.

He said the Kaduna meeting had been fixed several days before the court delivered its judgment on Al-Mustapha.

He explained that the meeting was called to deliberate on the frequent and disturbing crises in the northern part of the country.

He said, “In the first instance, this meeting was called 10 days before the judgment was given. The day the court convicted him was the day of the arrival of the Emirs and Chiefs. How could the issue be on our agenda?”

via Punch