Nigeria: Ex-aide of Sani Abacha freed over killing of late politician's wife

Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha, former aide to Nigeria's late military dictator Sani Abacha, had his death sentence for killing the wife of late politician Moshood Abiola overturned by an appellate court sitting in Lagos Friday.

Reports reaching Gistplaza is  that a three-member panel of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal overturned the decision, which was handed down by a Lagos court 30 Jan, 2012.

Discharged and acquitted with Maj. Mustapha was Lateef Sofolahan, the personal aide to Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, 45, who was shot dead in Lagos in June 1996, three years after her husband won a presidential election that was cancelled by the military. The duo had been sentenced to death by hanging for the killing.

According to the presiding judge of the appellate court, Justice Rita Pemu, “the lower court stroked to secure a conviction by all means.” Both Abiola and Abacha died within a month of each other in 1998.