The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the attempt by the Lagos State Government to re-open the murder trial of a former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (retd), over the killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
Kudirat, wife of the late Chief MKO Abiola, was assassinated in Lagos on June 4, 1996, during the political turmoil that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
A five-man panel of the apex court, led by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, struck out the matter after observing that Lagos State failed to take any step to prosecute the appeal since it was granted leave in 2014 to revive the case.
At the hearing, Lagos State had no legal representation, while no court processes were filed to show readiness to proceed with the appeal.
Counsel to Al-Mustapha, Mr Paul Daudu (SAN), told the court that the state had not complied with the order made in 2014 directing it to file a notice of appeal within 30 days.
Daudu noted that more than nine years after the order was granted, Lagos State neither filed a notice of appeal nor demonstrated seriousness to pursue the matter, urging the court to hold that the case had been abandoned.
Justice Aba-Aji, who presided over the proceedings, confirmed from the court registrar that Lagos State was duly served with hearing notice.
In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court agreed that the state had lost interest in the case, describing the delay as inexcusable and dismissing the appeal marked SC/CR/45/2014.
Another related matter filed by the Lagos government and marked SC/CR/6/2014 was also dismissed on the same ground.
The apex court recalled that it granted Lagos State permission in 2014 to challenge the July 12, 2013 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which discharged and acquitted Al-Mustapha in the murder case.