In build up to 18th anniversary of the death of the late Nigerian Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, a former Chief Security Officer to the military dictator, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, has vowed to unveil startling details of what actually killed his principal and the acclaimed winner of the annulled
June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief Bashorun MKO Abiola.
This is just as he stressed that the late head of state did not loot the nation’s treasury as being reported.
Speaking with pressmen in Lagos on Monday, Al-Mustapha said that most of the funds recovered in different parts of the world were kept there by the Abacha government in anticipation of sanctions likely to be imposed on the country by the international community.
Al-Mustapha also said he would unveil the untold story of how the duo died in his new book, Mustapha’s Memoirs, which, according to him, is still being worked on.
“What killed Abacha is exactly what killed MKO Abiola. But I would reveal that after my court case, still at the supreme court. I would publish a book which has three volumes— the Mustapha’s Memoirs, which will tell what happened under Abacha and how he died,” he said.
His words:
“For instance, when Chief MKO Abiola was in prison, many notable Nigerians visited him. They will visit him in the morning, and when they come back to the Villa in the evening to see Abacha, they would say a different thing entirely.
“Unknown to these notable Nigerians, particularly notable Yoruba personalities, who visited Abiola, their visits were recorded on video. I did the video recording without their knowledge.
“These people would visit Abiola and come back to tell government a different thing about him.
“These same people would still go and tell Abiola a different thing about government. They are on video. The agencies of government have these videos evidence.
“These same people told MKO Abiola never to accept any compromise or negotiations. They advised him never to come back home without his mandate. All these things are on video.
“Of all the Yoruba leaders, only Oba Tejuosho told MKO Abiola the truth: to accept the conditional bail and go home.
“Only Oba Tejuosho told MKO Abiola that Abacha was his friend, urging him to reconcile with Abacha who was ready for reconciliation. It was Oba Tejuosho who told MKO Abiola that he still had the goodwill and would win if he re-contests after Abacha.
Al-Mustapha also denied the allegation that he assisted Abacha to stash money in foreign accounts.
“The proper facts about the Abacha loot are not known. Where was the money from? What was it meant for? How was it taken out? Who kept the money there? Abacha was not leaving Nigeria at a later time. His journeys were within Africa because the toes he had stepped upon were bent on removing him,” he said.
“In November 1998, I told the government to prosecute me, if I have any bank account than my salary account with the Bank of the North.”
Dismissing the allegation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan facilitated his release from the prison to enable him lead a killer squad of 1,000 snipers ahead of the 2015 presidential election.
He said: “Firstly, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was not the one that facilitated my release. Rather, my release was facilitated by the content of the case as determined by the Court of Appeal. We were not even supposed to have been arrested in the first place,” he said.
“After all, witnesses were induced and contracted to implicate us. At the end of the day, we were subjected to all manner of torture and abuses of our human rights. Today, despite the fact that we were convicted on grounds that were baseless without evidence and even against the submissions of their witnesses, they did the contrary outside what was before the court of law.
“So, when the Appellate Court looked at the matter in totality, we were released based on purely the rule of law. So, anybody saying Jonathan facilitated my release is either one of my persecutors or those who have taken money from them. There are public documents in the public for all to see these facts.
“Nobody contracted me to catch 1,000 mosquitoes under the Jonathan administration, let alone human beings. I am Al-Mustapha. I have my background away from the propaganda peddled by the likes of Obasanjo.
“Obasanjo has had his day. I am doing my investigation and I have discovered so many things as to what made him (Obasanjo) make such allegation. I have it. I will release it very soon and that is why I have challenged him to an open debate. “Obasanjo is my senior in the force; he was a former Military Head of State, but when issues of law and rights of man are being discussed, definitely equality comes to the fore.
“You cannot put an allegation against your junior because you are a senior, and you believe the junior would keep quiet. No, I would not. That would amount to ignorance. I am not ignorant about our laws.
“I challenge Obasanjo to an open debate so that he can substantiate his allegations before the whole world; but he is yet to oblige the challenge.
“Thank God a new government is here today, where he (Obasanjo) can bring up the issue, requesting it to investigate and, if there is any contract between Jonathan and I to catch one single mosquito, I want to say that I am guilty and want to be tried.”
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