Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, July 02, 2004.
Mustapha in court as Ibru case begins
By Victor Efeizomor
Law
Reporter
Hamza Al-Mustapha,
former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to late Sani Abacha, detained for security
breach, was brought to a Lagos High Court on Thursday almost three months after
security operatives took him away from Kirikiri prisons.
Men of the Directorate
of Military Intelligence (DMI) brought him to kickstart the stalled trial of
those allegedly involved in the attempted assassination of The Guardian publisher Alex Ibru.
Limping and looking
pale, Mustapha was sandwiched between 20 security operatives who brought him to
court.
Well wishers who
thronged the court were prevented from getting close to the man who once held
sway in the corridors of power.
His presence in court
enabled the prosecution to call its first witness into the box.
Justice Joseph Oyewale
dismissed an application brought by the defence to stall the trial pending the determination of a
motion at the Court of Appeal.
Others standing trial
are former Chief of Army Staff Ishaya Bamaiyi, former Zamfara State Military Administrator Bala Yakubu,
former Lagos State Police Commissioner James Danbaba and Police Suprintendent
Rabo Lawal.
Mustapha’s
counsel Olalekan Ojo had told the court of a motion seeking to stall the trial,
saying the court cannot proceed with the case when there is a pending
application at the Appeal Court and that any attempt to go ahead with it will
amount to treating the Court of Appeal with contempt.
He added that it is
the right of Mustapha to have the motion at the appellate court heard before
any other thing at the lower court.
He also argued that to
do otherwise will be prejudicial and frustrating the legal right of Mustapha
who has been held incommunicado, something “which infringes on his right to fair trial”.
Ojo, citing Mohammed
vs. Olawumi of 1993 4 Nigerian Weekly Law Report page 254, part 287, stated
that the court is familiar with the case on the issue of law, adding that if
the court can wait for three months before the production of Mustapha in court,
the same court can wait a little longer for the Appeal Court in order to do
things by law.
He charged the court
to adhere to judicial norms and practices and await the decision of the Court
of Appeal rather than pre-empt its decision.
Bamaiyi’s
counsel Rickky Tafa (SAN), who told the court that he has a similar suit at the Supreme Court,
urged the court to stay proceedings pending the determination of the suit,
adding that section 6(6)(b) of the Constitution empowers the court to suspend
action pending the determination of the case.
Opposing the
application, prosecution lead counsel Yemi Osibajo (SAN) urged the court to
disregard the application as Section 74(i)(m) of the Evidence Act stipulates
certain facts which the court must take judicial notice of.
He said one of such
facts is that the accused person had not filed any motion before the court
seeking to stay proceedings or quash the information and that the matter which
is the subject of the appeal, to which the defence has referred in the
affidavit in support, showed that it has to do with the ruling of the Court of
Appeal dated October 16, 2003.
Osibajo argued that
the facts contained in the affidavit in paragraphs 11, 13, 14, 16 and 20 deal
with the issue of legal conclusion which offends the provisions of the Evidence
Act. He said the Supreme Court has ruled that the matter should go on
uninterrupted.
The judge dismissed
the application and adjourned the case till July 5.
