EMBATTLED former Chief Security Officer to the late military head of state General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has been under admission at the military hospital at Kirikiri, Lagos, since last Thursday.
Mr. Mustapha has been mired in a lengthy battle over his alleged involvement in the assassination of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the later Chief M.K.O. Abiola, for the last 13 years, during which Mustapha has remained in detention.
Although details of the Mr. Mustapha’s illness are yet to be ascertained, sources at the military hospital revealed that he has been under admission at the hospital since last Thursday.
The latest development concerning the once-dreaded Abacha henchman’s health is against the backdrop of a looming date, January 30, 2012, when he would know his fate along with Lateef Shofolahan, Special Assistant to the late Mrs. Abiola, who is facing charges alongside Mustapha.
In another case concerning his involvement in the attempted murder of the late publisher of the Guardian newspaper, Mr. Alex Ibru, the court of Appeals had discharged and acquitted Mustapha.
Lagos High Court presided by Justice Mufutau Olokooba had discharged and acquitted Al-Mustafa and three others on the grounds that there was no prima facie case against them.
But Lagos State government was dissatisfied against the verdict. The state filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal in Lagos. But the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the lower court and freed Al-Mustapha over the Ibru case.