Al-Mustapha: The politics of justice
Two prominent Yoruba leaders – Dr. Frederick Fasheun and Chief Femi Fani – Kayode have both expressed shock at the gravity of the sentence, despite the conflicting evidences and witnesses’ account at the trial, which dragged on for almost 14 years. In particular, the OPC factional leader, Dr. Fasheun accused the Judge of showing an […]
Two prominent Yoruba leaders – Dr. Frederick Fasheun and Chief Femi Fani – Kayode have both expressed shock at the gravity of the sentence, despite the conflicting evidences and witnesses’ account at the trial, which dragged on for almost 14 years. In particular, the OPC factional leader, Dr. Fasheun accused the Judge of showing an overkill of sentiments rather than taking into account all the inconsistencies and recantations by witnesses during the trial. On his part, the former Minister of Civil Aviation, Chief Femi Fani–Kayode, said human life is not a joke and that all facts of a case must be thoroughly exhausted before passing a death sentence. According to him, Nigerians must put blind sentiments aside and consider the implications of such sentence vis-à-vis the many loopholes in the evidence. In the other words, these two Yoruba gentlemen were simply making the point that perceived animosity towards Al-Mustapha should not becloud our capacity to look beyond those sentiments.
Inducing a witness is a perversion of justice and the persecution star witness, Mr. Barnabas Jabila (a.k.a. Sergeant Rogers) pointed openly to this attempt while he was in jail. He recalled that two former Ministers of Justice, the late Bola Ige and Mr. Kanu Agabi and the former Lagos State Attorney General, Professor Femi Osibanjo, had visited him in prison and solicited his cooperation to implicate Al-Mustapha in return for handsome rewards. Bola Ige is dead to defend himself, but Kanu Agabi and Osibanjo who are still alive, had not publicly refuted the allegation throughout the trial. Worse still, the trial Judge never for once made any effort to invite them to clarify these weighty allegations against them by sergeant Rogers. The revelation by Sergeant Rogers had discredited the case, but it was never taken into reckoning in the course of the trial, which ended in a death sentence, though Al-Mustapha’s lawyers have sought a stay-of-execution order to proceed with their appeal against the verdict.
Some legal experts have argued that a case attended by inconsistencies and contradictory witnesses’ accounts without decisive proof of guilt wouldn’t have justified the death sentence passed on Al-Mustapha and his fellow convict, Mr. Lateef Shofalahan, an aide to the late Mrs. Kudirat Abiola. What is even shocking is for a Judge to openly celebrate the death sentence she was about to pass on the suspects. She pooh-poohed Shofolahan for collaborating with the “devil” (Al-Mustapha) to betray the late Kudirat to gain “relevance” in the Abacha government. These contemptuous sentiments should have no place in giving a judgment; a Judge, regardless of his or her ethnic, religious or sectional sentiments, should be clinically detached to a case. That is why we have the cliché of “as impassive as a Judge.” Should a Judge celebrate victory over her victims? Unfortunately, the utterances of Justice Mojisola Dada sounded just like that. As the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan noted, “Where human life is involved, extraordinary efforts are needed to preserve it.” A death sentence is not a joke, especially in a situation where a suspect has already spent 14 years as a prisoner at the bar.
Did Justice Dada make extraordinary efforts to avoid the death sentence in the light of insufficient and contradictory evidences? From day one, Al-Mustapha was facing trial in a hostile environment. When the trial started in 1999, the first Judge that heard the case opposed the idea of Al-Mustapha and other fellow suspects of sitting down while giving evidence in his court. In the famous words of the initial Judge, “criminals” should not enjoy the privilege of sitting in his court. His remarks caused a stir in court because he was referring to the suspects as “criminals” when they were not even properly convicted. Should the dominant sentiments of the political environment where a trial takes place influence a Judge? Should a Judge go the extra mile to do justice or should he or she succumb to the temptation of becoming the hero or heroine of his or her political environment by bending to those sentiments. Such are the lingering questions arising from the death sentence passed on Al-Mustapha. With other powerful political forces wanting him dead at all cost, the outcome of the case has put justice itself on trial.
Soba, a writer on socio-political issues, lives at No. 102, Anguwar Rimi, Kaduna.Email: [email protected]