{"id":8382,"date":"2013-08-15T06:39:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T06:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/al-mustapha-appeal-court-decision-perverse-lagos-state\/"},"modified":"2013-08-15T06:39:49","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T06:39:49","slug":"al-mustapha-appeal-court-decision-perverse-lagos-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/al-mustapha-appeal-court-decision-perverse-lagos-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Al-Mustapha: Appeal Court decision perverse \u2013Lagos State"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Lagos State government has described the decision of the Court of Appeal that discharged and acquitted Major Hamza al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer, CSO, to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha and Lateef Sofolahan of any involvement in the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola as perverse and a miscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n

The State in two separate appeals signed by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye before the Supreme Court, alleged that the appellate court misapplied principle of law and thereby regarded the entire evidence presented by the prosecution as mere suspicion.<\/p>\n

Consequently, the State urged the Supreme Court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered on July 13, 2013.<\/p>\n

The State in its proposed Notice of Appeal, raised questions regarding the Court of Appeal\u2019s evaluation of the evidence relied upon by the trial judge in its judgement.<\/p>\n

The state also queried the correctness of the Court of Appeal\u2019s decision on the materiality or otherwise of the alleged contradictions in the testimony of Banabas Jabila (a.k.a Sgt Rogers) and Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako), (PW1 and PW2 respectively).<\/p>\n

Specifically, the State urged the Apex Court to set aside the whole decision of the Court of Appeal, saying it was a miscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n

The State also added that the lower court erred in law, when it substituted its own assessment and evaluation of the evidence with that of the trial court in its judgement when it held that there was no credible and reliable evidence in the entire record to justify conviction.<\/p>\n

Part of the ground states: \u201cIn the circumstances of this case where the Court below could not assess the witnesses, consider their demeanour, the nuances of the process before the court, including specific conducts, or attitudes of witnesses in relation to specific, critical, vital and material evidence, oral or otherwise; the Court did not disclose sufficient reasons for substituting its own view for those of the trial court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, the State stated that the lower court erred in law by misconstruing the \u201cwitness protection\u201d programme as inducement in its evaluation and used that as the basis for disbelieving the testimonies of PW2 and Pw3.<\/p>\n

The appellant stated that \u201cThe court below erred in law when it held that there were material contradiction that rendered the testimony of Mohammed Abdu unreliable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The six grounds of appeal are; that the court below erred when it determined that there were material constrictions that rendered the testimony of Banabas Jabila unreliable; that the court below erred in law when it held that there was nothing to show that the Major Hamza al- Mustapha and Lateef Sofolahan conspired with any other person to kill the late Kudirat Abiola; that the court below erred in law in holding that there was no basis for conviction and that the charges have not been proved against the accused persons beyond reasonable doubt and that there was nothing connecting them with the commission of the offence<\/p>\n

Others are; that the court bellow erred in law by substituting its own assessment and evaluation of the evidence with that of the trial judge in its judgment, when it held that there was no credible and reliable evidence in the entire record to justify the conviction of the respondents; that the court below erred in law when it held that \u2018\u2019there is no credible, cogent and reliable evidence linking the appellant with the murder of the deceased; that the court bellow erred in law when it held that there was no evidence whether direct or circumstantial which points to the commission of the crime of the murder of the deceased to the accused persons.<\/p>\n

The appellate court had in a unanimous decision held that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and consequently quashed the death sentence passed on them by Justice Mojisola Dada of a Lagos High Court.<\/p>\n

The appellate court in its lead judgement, delivered by Justice Rita Pemu supported by Justice Amina Augie (presiding) and Justice F O Akinbami respectively held that there was no nexus between the appellants and the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1993.<\/p>\n

Resolving all the three issues raised against the prosecution, Justice Pemu held that the testimonies of all the prosecution witnesses were worthless and could not sustain the offence of conspiracy or murder.<\/p>\n

The appellate court further held that the 326-page judgement delivered by the trial judge was needless and an indication that the trial judge was finding a way round the doubts created by the prosecution.<\/p>\n

The court stated that the prosecution did not solicit the assistance of the trial judge to convict the appellants as none of the prosecution witnesses added any value to the case adding that \u201cthe 326-page judgement could not provide evidence where none existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Kano State, elder statesman, Alhaji Ibrahim Babankowa warned that the Lagos State government action to drag al-Mustapha before the Supreme Court could affect the fortune of the All Nigerian Peoples Congress, APC.<\/p>\n

Briefing newsmen in Kano, Babankowa noted that the steps taken by Lagos state also have the capacity to rekindle distrust between the Hausa\/ Fulani extraction on one side and the Yoruba on the other.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

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