Former Chief Security Officer,
CSO to the late Head of
State, Gen. Sani Abacha,
Major Hamza Al-Mustapha,
has reiterated his call for a
public debate, where former
President Olusegun
Obasanjo would come to
substantiate claims in his
infamous 18-page letter that
he (Al-Mustapha) was
contracted to head a killer
squad of 1, 000 snipers for
President Goodluck Jonathan,
ahead of the 2015 general
elections.
Al-Mustapha-Obasanjo
Al-Mustapha, who addressed
some select journalists in
Lagos, on Monday, on some
number of issues relating to
his 15 years travails in
detention, also debunked
insinuations that ex-
President Jonathan
interfered with court process
to facilitate his release from
prisons, to enable him (Al-
Mustapha) help train the
'killer squad' or procure
Jonathan's success in the
North during the last
election.
Al-Mustapha said ab initio,
he had no case to answer
but for the plots of his
persecutors to see him
eliminated because he
stepped on their toes while
he served as the CSO to the
late Head of State, Sanni
Abacha, adding that the
Appellate Court acquitted him
when it determined that he
had no case to answer of all
the charges leveled against
him.
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. 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.”
Adding, he said, “On the
allegation by former
President Olusegun
Obasanjo that I was
contracted by the Jonathan
administration to train 1,000
snipers, I have challenged
him to an open debate to
substantiate his allegations.
Obasanjo cannot go about
creating an allegation that is
totally false. If that assertion
of Obasanjo was true, now
that President Muhammadu
Buhari was in power, now
that the office of the National
Security Adviser, NSA is
being x-rayed, now that
those who collected money
from that office are being x-
rayed by different
committees, that allegation of
Obasanjo would have come
to fore.
“Nobody contracted me to
catch 1, 000 mosquitoes
under the Jonathan
administration, not to talk of
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 gave him
(Obasanjo) that input to
have made such allegation
then. 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
militarily, he was a former
Military Head of State in this
country, but when issues of
law and rights of man are
being discussed, definitely
equality comes to the fore.
You can't 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 today, a new
government is here, where
he (Obasanjo) can bring up
the issue again, requesting it
to scrutinise, and if there is
any contract between
President Jonathan and I, to
catch one single mosquito, I
want to say that I am guilty
and want to be tried.”