Al-Mustapha: A case for political action

Major Al-Mustapha and other suspects however, have remained in detention for eleven years in what is clearly seen as a politically motivated trial. The emergence of General Obasanjo as president in 1999 led to the chain of events resulting in their current ordeal. Forgiveness is not one of Obasanjo’s virtues and he saw his election […]

Major Al-Mustapha and other suspects however, have remained in detention for eleven years in what is clearly seen as a politically motivated trial. The emergence of General Obasanjo as president in 1999 led to the chain of events resulting in their current ordeal. Forgiveness is not one of Obasanjo’s virtues and he saw his election as a great opportunity to hit back at those who put him on trial and convicted him for coup plotting in 1995.

Al-Mustapha and his fellow suspects became easy prey for the notoriously revenge-hungry former president. The star witness in the trial, Barnabas Mshelia (a.k.a. Sergeant Rogers) told the Court that two former attorneys-general of the Obasanjo administration, the late Bola Ige and Chief kanu Agabi and a former Lagos State attorney general, Professor Femi Osinbanjo, had visited him in prison and promised him lucrative reward if he could implicate the suspects in the alleged murder of the late Kudirat Abiola, the wife to the late presidential contender, Chief Moshood Abiola.

For almost two years since Sergeant Rogers made these allegations against the late Bola Ige, Kanu Agabi and Professor Osinbanjo, none of the officials mentioned who are alive have made efforts to deny the grave allegations. Both Agabi and Professor Osinbanjo have remained indifferent to the allegations. But their silence is not funny because it further throws the credibility of the trial into question.

When a trial is tainted with political malice, justice is automatically threatened. Keeping anyone in detention for eleven years is itself enough punishment. Perhaps driven by a stricken conscience, a factional leader of the Odua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasheun put out newspaper adverts to call for the State pardon for Al-Mustapha and other suspects. The sentiments for justice transcend ethnic, tribal and regional consideration.

The fact that this trial has gone into eleven years and the suspects having suffered so much stress, there is the urgent need for political solution by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. The gesture of amnesty extended to militants in the Niger Delta despite their perceived rebellion against the authority of the federal government, was widely welcomed by Nigerians.

Dissatisfied with military solution, Nigerians have supported a political solution to the crisis in the oil producing region of Nigeria. Happily, relative calm has returned to the area. Before the amnesty, other regional agitators such as Frederick Fasheun and Ganiyu Adams of OPC were also released as a gesture of national reconciliation. The two OPC factional leaders were facing murder charges, including the killing of policemen, before they were released.

In the same spirit of national reconciliation, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Col. Bala Yakubu, James Danbaba and Rabo Lawal also deserve a Presidential pardon. Northern opinion leaders, politicians and other pressure groups should work closely with the Acting President to find an urgent political solution to the long trial of these victims of political vengeance. Former President Obasanjo’s main interest in their case is pure vengeance.

This is a great opportunity for Acting President Goodluck Jonathan to demonstrate statesmanship and boost his political goodwill across the country. Indeed, the virtue of forgiveness is one of the greatest attributes of statesmen.

Application of rigid legalism rather than a speedy political solution is not too good for a country seeking national reconciliation. Dr. Jonathan has the power and the will to end this trial once and for all. Vengeance will lead a country nowhere. No leader that hopes to make headway should accept to take on the burden of vengeance as state policy. Former President Obasanjo takes pride in vengeance but any leader that comes after him should cast away such attitude.

Dr. Goodluck is one of the luckiest Nigerian leaders as his pedigree has confirmed and his only pay back to God that elevated him is to pursue a policy of forgiveness and national healing process. National reconciliation through state pardon will be incomplete when the gesture is perceived to be discriminating against certain Nigerians. The case of Major Al-Mustapha and other suspects is leading to the feeling that they are forgotten because they have no voices to speak for them. Therefore, their only voice of hope is Acting President Goodluck who has been handed a historic opportunity to run the affairs of Nigeria at this critical stage of our political journey.

Mohammed writes from 105, Isa Kaita Road, Kaduna