Mr Richard Akinnola is a Human Rights activist, whose passion for good governance in the country is unfathomable. He was described by Justice Habeeb Abiru of Lagos State High Court as “conscience of the Nation”. However, his prolific writings have gathered more ground in the defence of the Rights and dignity of man.
In a 99-page book titled, “A Travesty of Justice: The Acquittal of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and others over the murder of Kudirat Abiola,” Akinnola chronicled the 14-year trial of Kudirat’s murder case, wife of presumed winner of June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.
According to Akinnola: “As a matter of fact, in the first year of the trial, there were 49 adjournments, all at the instances of the defence. This is perhaps, one of the longest criminal trials in the anal of such cases in Nigeria. That a case can drag on for fourteen years!”
He explained that there were three different sets of cases, which are, the assassination of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, the attempted assassination of Alex Ibru, late publisher of Guardian, and the attempted assassination of Mr Abraham Adesanya, late NADECO/Afenifere leader. While the latter was not disposed off, the other two were.
“Interestingly, while in normal clime, it is the accused person that wants speedy dispensation of justice, particularly when the accused is in custody, strangely, this trial was unduly prolonged by the accused persons as part of their strategy to unduly politicize the case and win public sympathy to the erroneous impression that the trial had dragged on for too long” Akinnola stated.
The activist pointed out that the accused persons were in 1999, first brought before the Chief Magistrate court, Ikeja, Lagos presided over by Paul Gbogodo. They were charged with conspiracy and murder of Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996. The prosecutor was a policeman, Mr Nuhu Ribadu, who later became the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC).
How the first judge to preside over the matter pulled out
Akinnola noted that in the year 2000, the accused persons were subsequently charged before a Lagos High Court, presided over by Justice Christopher Segun, then Chief Judge of the State.
He added: “But the feathers of controversy soon began to fly as soon as the case began. Unknown to the judge that a major strategy of the defence was to frustrate the trial and make it political, the judge made a slip of tongue which the defence latched on.
“At the commencement of the trial, the lead defence counsel, Mr Clement Akpamgbo (now late) had applied orally to the judge to allow the accused persons sit down in the dock, an application which Justice Segun turned down by saying ‘No! No! What kind of application is that? I cannot allow criminals to sit at my court.’
“Mr J.B. Daudu SAN, counsel to one of the accused persons, Mohammed Abacha, son of the late Head of State, Sani Abacha, latched on this by raising allegations of bias against the judge for calling his clients ‘criminals’, and asked the judge to disqualify himself from presiding over the case. Justice Segun, in a short ruling, did not hesitate to wash his hands off the case, reassigning the case as the Chief Judge to Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun (now of the Supreme Court).”
The trial before justice Kekere-Ekun
Akinnola stressed: “The trial before Justice Kekere-Ekun commenced smoothly with the prosecution, Fola Arthur-Worrey (now executive secretary, Lagos State Security Trust Fund). The accused persons all pleaded not guilty. For the defence was no less formidable as led by Akpamgbo, Daudu, Yakubu Mikayu, Bala Ibn Na’Allah and Kaloma Ali.
“The proceedings before Justice Kekere-Ekun soon ran into a stormy weather as Daudu again brought an application asking the court to discharge Abacha from the trial. The application was predicated on the ground that the charge of accessory after the fact of murder preferred against Abacha could not stand since the charge of murder had not been proven.
“After listening to all the arguments, Justice Kekere-Ekun overruled Daudu. Dissatisfied, Daudu tenaciously pursed the application to the court of appeal and the Supreme Court where he eventually got his request in a very controversial decision.
“The apex court of July 11, 2002 gave the verdict in favour of Abacha, discharging him from the trial. It should be noted that while Daudu was pursing Abaha’s application at the appellate court, he brought an application before the trial court for stay of proceedings, pending the determination of his application at the higher courts.
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