Why Jonathan should save Al-Mustafa
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- Category: Comments
- Written by Nuruddeeen Al-Kasim Mohammed
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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and a powerful Northern General are believed to be behind the travails of Major Al-Mustafa. The former President nurses grudges against Al-Mustafa for his 1995 trial for alleged coup plotting by the late General Sani Abacha administration. In his own case, the retired Northern General is allegedly bitter against Al-Mustafa for dredging up his dirty past and exposing him to Nigerians. It is also alleged that this Northern General has vowed to frustrate any effort or initiative to grant amnesty to Major Al- Mustafa and other remaining suspects still on trial. Should a society throw mercy to the dogs just to gratify the ego and desire for vengeance by a powerful few? Should society descend to that low level of base obsession with vengeance?
The Scottish government had no difficulty granting mercy to Abdel Basit Al-Magrahi, the Libyan Security officer serving life imprisonment for his role in the 1989 Lockerbie terrorist bombing of a civilian passenger plane, which had killed almost 300 passengers and crew. His health failed in course of serving his term and, despite opposition by the U.S. administration, the Scottish government insisted to free him on humanitarian grounds. The Scottish government didn’t allow the emotion of vengeance to displace the passion for mercy. Reason prevailed in the end and that is how it should be.
Major Al-Mustafa is a victim of a trial within a trial infected by dangerous politics of private vengeance. Having spent more than twelve years on this sluggishly moving trial, the case of Al-Mustafa is long overdue for political resolution by President Goodluck Jonathan. He needs to tell those powerful men who are bent on frustrating state pardon for Al-Mustafa that he is the one in charge and must be allowed to use his discretion on the matter.
Last year, few days to the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria on October 1st 2010, there were reports that Al-Mustafa would be granted state pardon in the spirit of the occasion. It was alleged, however, that some powerful politicians with private grudges against the victim frustrated the move. In matters like this, the president has to follow his conscience and use his wisdom to resolve the issue politically.
No nation has ever collapsed because of the virtue of mercy and none will in the future. Despite the tribulations he went through for 27 years in jail, the former South African President, Dr. Nelson Mandela chose to forgive his oppressors rather than pursue a policy of vengeance. Mandela’s action was the finest example of statesmanship. President Goodluck Jonathan has to follow this path; he has no reason to inherit and carry Obasanjo’s burden of vindictiveness. It is also an open secret that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was not keen about Al-Mustapha’s case because his own elder brother, the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, was convicted along with Obasanjo for alleged coup plotting in 1995 by the late General Sani Abacha regime.
Major Al-Mustafa found himself in the hands of political leaders with private grudges against him because he served as General Abacha’s Chief Security Officer that convicted these seemingly untouchable men. In the case of President Goodluck Jonathan, however, he doesn’t have this burden of private grudges against the suspect. Therefore, he has no business allowing the private grudges of certain local leaders to have any bearing on the policies of his administration. Major Al-Mustafa has suffered enough and it is high time the President intervened to end this long-running trial once and for all. As he pursues the process of national healing and reconciliation, the greatest gift the President can give Northerners is the release of Al-Mustafa. State pardon must be seen to be even-handed and not lop-sided. As Shakespeare says in Merchant of Venice, “mercy falls like a gentle rain from the sky, upon the earth; it blesses he that gives it and he who receives it.” Such is the power of mercy. President Jonathan should follow the footsteps of gentlemen like Mandela and not local leaders obsessed with vengeance. Leaders in this category should not be his role models, let alone carry the burden of their poor public image in terms of forgiveness.
Mohammed wrote from 102, Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Illorin, Kwara State E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Why Jonathan should save Al-Mustafa
Category: Comments Written by Nuruddeeen Al-Kasim Mohammed Hits: 1529
Nothing infects justice worse than bias, prejudice and politics. The long-running trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustafa, the Chief Security Officer to the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, is already pricking the conscience of the nation beyond Northern Nigeria. The sentiments of Justice and mercy unite the people beyond borders. It was not surprising therefore, why the former Minister of Civil Aviation, Chief Femi Fani Kayode and the retired Supreme Court Justice, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa had expressed open concern last year over the extraordinary length of time it took to wind up his alleged murder trial. The latest reports are that Major Al-Mustafa is dangerously ill and needed to be flown abroad for urgent medical attention. His trial along with others, some of whom were discharged and acquitted such as Major General Ishaya Bamaiya, Colonel Jibrin Bala Yakubu and Police Commissioner James Danbaba, was politically motivated from the start. In fact, in the course of the trial, the chief prosecution witness, Barnabas Mshelia (a.k.a. Sergeant Rogers), graphically narrated how he was visited in jail by two former Ministers of Justice -the late Bola Ige and Kanu Agabi and the former Lagos State Attorney General, Professor Femi Osinbanjo, pleading with him to implicate Al-Mustafa and others in return for huge financial and material rewards. Sergeant Rogers’ decision to turn a hostile witness threw the prosecution team into confusion and the case had to be adjourned for months. Since then, the case has lost any veneer of credibility. Neither Kanu Agabi nor Professor Osinbanjo who are still alive, have refuted this allegation so far. In fact, the trial Judge recently told the prosecution team that he could no longer tolerate further delay in bringing their witnesses after previous failures to do so.Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and a powerful Northern General are believed to be behind the travails of Major Al-Mustafa. The former President nurses grudges against Al-Mustafa for his 1995 trial for alleged coup plotting by the late General Sani Abacha administration. In his own case, the retired Northern General is allegedly bitter against Al-Mustafa for dredging up his dirty past and exposing him to Nigerians. It is also alleged that this Northern General has vowed to frustrate any effort or initiative to grant amnesty to Major Al- Mustafa and other remaining suspects still on trial. Should a society throw mercy to the dogs just to gratify the ego and desire for vengeance by a powerful few? Should society descend to that low level of base obsession with vengeance?
The Scottish government had no difficulty granting mercy to Abdel Basit Al-Magrahi, the Libyan Security officer serving life imprisonment for his role in the 1989 Lockerbie terrorist bombing of a civilian passenger plane, which had killed almost 300 passengers and crew. His health failed in course of serving his term and, despite opposition by the U.S. administration, the Scottish government insisted to free him on humanitarian grounds. The Scottish government didn’t allow the emotion of vengeance to displace the passion for mercy. Reason prevailed in the end and that is how it should be.
Major Al-Mustafa is a victim of a trial within a trial infected by dangerous politics of private vengeance. Having spent more than twelve years on this sluggishly moving trial, the case of Al-Mustafa is long overdue for political resolution by President Goodluck Jonathan. He needs to tell those powerful men who are bent on frustrating state pardon for Al-Mustafa that he is the one in charge and must be allowed to use his discretion on the matter.
Last year, few days to the 50th Independence Anniversary of Nigeria on October 1st 2010, there were reports that Al-Mustafa would be granted state pardon in the spirit of the occasion. It was alleged, however, that some powerful politicians with private grudges against the victim frustrated the move. In matters like this, the president has to follow his conscience and use his wisdom to resolve the issue politically.
No nation has ever collapsed because of the virtue of mercy and none will in the future. Despite the tribulations he went through for 27 years in jail, the former South African President, Dr. Nelson Mandela chose to forgive his oppressors rather than pursue a policy of vengeance. Mandela’s action was the finest example of statesmanship. President Goodluck Jonathan has to follow this path; he has no reason to inherit and carry Obasanjo’s burden of vindictiveness. It is also an open secret that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was not keen about Al-Mustapha’s case because his own elder brother, the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, was convicted along with Obasanjo for alleged coup plotting in 1995 by the late General Sani Abacha regime.
Major Al-Mustafa found himself in the hands of political leaders with private grudges against him because he served as General Abacha’s Chief Security Officer that convicted these seemingly untouchable men. In the case of President Goodluck Jonathan, however, he doesn’t have this burden of private grudges against the suspect. Therefore, he has no business allowing the private grudges of certain local leaders to have any bearing on the policies of his administration. Major Al-Mustafa has suffered enough and it is high time the President intervened to end this long-running trial once and for all. As he pursues the process of national healing and reconciliation, the greatest gift the President can give Northerners is the release of Al-Mustafa. State pardon must be seen to be even-handed and not lop-sided. As Shakespeare says in Merchant of Venice, “mercy falls like a gentle rain from the sky, upon the earth; it blesses he that gives it and he who receives it.” Such is the power of mercy. President Jonathan should follow the footsteps of gentlemen like Mandela and not local leaders obsessed with vengeance. Leaders in this category should not be his role models, let alone carry the burden of their poor public image in terms of forgiveness.
Mohammed wrote from 102, Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo Road, Illorin, Kwara State E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.