Supreme Court Closes Kudirat Abiola Murder Case, Dismisses Lagos Government’s Appeal

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has brought final closure to the decades-long legal saga surrounding the 1996 murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, ruling that the Lagos State Government effectively abandoned its appeal to reinstate prosecution against Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd.), the former Chief Security Officer to the late General Sani Abacha. This report was gathered by Global Mirror News.

A five-member panel of justices, led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, delivered the unanimous judgment on Thursday December 22,, noting that Lagos State failed to pursue the appeal after obtaining leave in 2014.

The Apex Court highlighted that the State neither filed the necessary documents nor appeared in Court for more than nine years, despite receiving hearing notices, demonstrating a lack of diligent prosecution.

Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed appeal case number SC/CR/45/2014, along with the related appeal SC/CR/6/2014, effectively ending Lagos State’s legal efforts to challenge Al-Mustapha’s earlier acquittal.

Background
Kudirat Abiola, wife of the presumed winner of the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola, was assassinated in Lagos on June 4, 1996, amid Nationwide protests against the election annulment. Al-Mustapha and other co-accused were initially convicted by a Lagos High Court in 2012 and sentenced to death.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2013, citing insufficient evidence. Lagos State sought to appeal, and while the Supreme Court granted leave in 2014, the State failed to act, leading to Thursday’s dismissal.

With this ruling, the Supreme Court has definitively closed nearly three decades of litigation related to Kudirat Abiola’s murder, marking an official end to the matter.