"THE LEGAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE ACQUITTAL OF HAMZA AL-MUSTAPHA BY THE NIGERIAN JUDICIARY"

The justices of the Court of Appeal who acquitted Hamza Al Mustapha of the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola said that THERE WAS NO DIRECT EVIDENCE that linked Hamza Al Mustapha to the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola. Below are the major questions that the Nigerian judiciary left unanswered forever in the minds of Nigerians:(i). Why was the murder case against Hamza Al Mustapha delayed for over 13 years plus by the Nigeria's criminal justice system in the first instance? (ii). Why was Hamza Al Mustapha arrested for murder without the required speedy trial, kept in detention and denied his human rights since 1999? (iii). Why was the same legal evidence that was used by the lower court (high court) to sentence Hamza Al Mustapha to a life imprisonment for murder was now used by the Court of Appeal to acquit him from the same murder charge? (iv). Will the acquittal of Hamza Al Mustapha by the Court of Appeal today in Nigeria going to be a true victory for truth, justice and the rule of law in Nigeria? (v) Was Alhaja Kudirat Abiola murdered in vain, denied justice forever by the Nigeria's criminal justice system and her allleged killers set free forever also? No matter your position as a Nigerian on the today's final legal acquittal of Hamza Al Mustapha by the Nigerian judiciary, the decision of this Court of Appeal today has set up legal and historical precedence in Nigeria's criminal justice system and the 160 million Nigerians will continue to be divided between the decision of this Court of Appeal to acquit Hamza Al Mustapha and the judgement of the Nigeria's court of public opinion 

This legal development is very interesting to me for a number of reasons:(i) A very bad legal precedence has now been officially established as a reference point in the Nigerian judiciary system and in the future similar cases. (ii) A legal conviction of any future accused murderers will require more than circumstantial evidences. Any future accused murderers must either be arrested red-handed at the scene of those crimes, or were observed by more than two credible eyewitnesses, photographed at the scene of those crimes or video-taped at those crime scenes or the forensic evidence that links the murderers to those murders were collected at the crime scenes. (iii). This legal development means that murderers, the sponsors of hired killings, ritual killings and perpetrators of political assassinations can walk freely on the streets of Nigeria forever if they are not directly linked or connected to the crimes that they directly planned, designed, masterminded, personally sponsored or financed or ordered to be carried out by their subordinates.

In conclusion, the truth is that, Nigerian judges are not incorruptible and our judiciary is not independent or autonomous from the executive directives, interferences and manipulations as well as outside influences. A serious legal precedence in Nigeria is now set into full motion. That judgement was a political one and never a legal one in all reality.