EXPECTATION of a showdown between former military leader, Abdusalami Abubakar and the recently-acquitted
military aide, Hamza Al-Mustapha is rife, as it is believed that the usually outspoken aide may soon begin to spill the beans on what he knows of the events of the crucial moments that preceded Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999.
This is according to influential online publication, Sahara Reporters, who cited “credible sources” as claiming that General Abdusalami, to whom the reins of leadership fell in Nigeria after General Abacha died in 1998, has reasons to be nervous over revelations that Major-General Al-Mustapha may make in the following weeks.
Al-Mustapha won his appeal against his sentence to the hangman’s noose on July 12 this year. He was the Chief Security Officer to General Abacha at the point of his death in reportedly unsavory circumstances in 1998 – a development that triggered the series of dramatic events that led to the emergence of Olusegun Obasanjo as president in 1999.
The New York-based publication cited “credible sources” as the origin of its information on the imminent showdown between Al-Mustapha, a major-general and former Chief Security Officer to late Nigerian dictator, General Sani Abacha, and Abacha’s successor, General Abdulsalam Abubakar.
Al-Mustapha is reported to be in good favor with the Abacha family and with several other prominent Northerners who blame both Generals Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida for the North’s present political misfortune, especially as it concerns the decision to support the candidature of would-be President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“The case of the former CSO was orchestrated by Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, and there are several sensitive properties and documents of Major Al-Mustapha that he confiscated and seized. All these factors are gradually brewing to a major showdown,” said Sahara Reporters of its source.
The publication said that the source added that Al-Mustapha will make his position clear on his estranged relationship with Abdulsalami as soon as he is through with all the formalities involved in his case with regards his formal discharge from the Army.
Other concerns to which Al-Mustapha is expected to attend include the petition by the family of the assassinated Kudirat Abiola against the judgment that set him free.
It has also been gathered that there are pressures on Al-Mustapha by other interests not to make a formal reply to his allegations against Abdulsalam. This include pressures from the emirs and other religious leaders to whom Al-Mustapha has paid homage since his release, who have pleaded with him not to fight back.