Hamza Al-Mustapha (born 27 July 1960) is a former Nigerian Army major and intelligence officer who served as Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, who was Nigeria’s military head of state from 1993 until his sudden death on June 8, 1998.

Early life

Hamza Al-Mustapha was born from Hausa family and educated in Nguru. He enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in 1983.

Military career

From August 1985 to August 1990, Al-Mustapha was [Aide-de-camp] (ADC) (but recently clarified in an open television interview with Channels Television’s Seun Okinbaloye that he wasn’t ADC that he was the Chief Security Officer) to [Chief of Army Staff (Nigeria)|Chief of Army Staff], General [Sani Abacha]. Both his principal and head of state, General [Ibrahim Babangida] had absolute confidence in his abilities, and entrusted him with exceptional powers, considerably greater than other officers who were nominally his superior. This further projected him as a strongman of the military hierarchy.

Military intelligence

Al-Mustapha was trained as a military intelligence operative. He held various command posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Security Group of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (SG-DMI), 82 Division and Army Headquarters; Ministry of Defence and The Presidency.

He was also involved in counter-intelligence activities and at least two investigations of coup attempts; which brought him to the attention of General Sani Abacha. He also conducted operations in Chad, Liberia, Bakassi, Gambia and Sierra Leone.

Abacha era

Regime security

General Sani Abacha seized power in 1993 and appointed al-Mustapha as his head of security from 17 November 1993 to 8 June 1998. In this role he was responsible for the security of the regime and established a number of elite military-security organisations. Other security outfits at the time were the Office of the National Security Adviser under Ismaila Gwarzo; National Intelligence Agency; Directorate of Military Intelligence; and the State Security Service. He was so respected and feared by even his superiors that former Minister of Works & Housing under the Abacha regime, Major-General Abdulkareem Adisa told the Oputa Panel that he had no regret kneeling down to ask Al-Mustapha to help him plead to General Abacha for forgiveness following their foiled coup attempt of December, 1997.

Power politics

• North Central: Benue State, Kogi State, Kwara State, Nasarawa State, Niger State, Plateau State and Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
• North East: Adamawa State, Bauchi State, Borno State, Gombe State, Taraba State and Yobe State.
• North West: Jigawa State, Kaduna State, Kano State, Katsina State, Kebbi State, Sokoto State and Zamfara State.
• South East: Abia State, Anambra State, Ebonyi State, Enugu State and Imo State.
• South South: Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State, Cross River State, Delta State, Edo State and Rivers State.
• South West: Ekiti State, Lagos State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State and Oyo State.

Transfer of power

General Sani Abacha died on 8 June 1998, following his death al-Mustapha assembled the military hierarchy in order to avoid a succession crisis. General Abdulsalam Abubakar emerged as head of state on 9 June 1998 and al-Mustapha was removed from office and subsequently arrested.

Arrest and internment

Arrest

Following his arrest, al-Mustapha was first held and questioned during the Oputa panel, then accused of plotting at least four coups from prison, before being moved to the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, where he was tortured for over a year. He was in chains and solitary confinement for over a year, allowed only a cup of water daily and subject to psychological torture. His private residences in Abuja, Kano and Yobe were looted by government operatives, his children’s toys were burned in front of him to instil fear, his family was subject to numerous threats, and throughout his internment he was allowed to see his parents only twice – who later died. In May 2011, there were rumours that al-Mustapha had been murdered at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons where he was being held, but these turned out to be untrue.

Acquittal

In 2007, there were appeals for al Mustapha’s release including from former military president Ibrahim Babangida. On 21 December 2010, al-Mustapha and his co-defendants were acquitted of most charges. However, al-Mustapha was still not cleared of the alleged murder of Kudirat Abiola. In July 2011, the case was reopened. Hamza Al-Mustapha and his co-accused Lateef Sofolahan testified to their innocence of the murder charges. On 30 January 2012, the Lagos High Court subsequently found al-Mustapha guilty of the murder and he was sentenced to death by hanging.  On 12 July 2013, The Court of Appeal in Lagos overturned the high court judgement and acquitted al-Mustapha of all murder charges of Kudirat Abiola. During the fifteen-year trial, al-Mustapha appeared before thirteen different judges and two magistrates.

Release from internment

Following his release, al-Mustapha moved to Kano.  In January 2017, the Government of Lagos State filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Nigeria for the apex court to uphold the previous death by hanging verdict of the Lagos High Court.

In 2017, he entered into partisan politics with his strong youth and grassroots support he founded the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN),  he later emerged as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) during the 2019 presidential election. He still have political ambition to contest for president.

Charges

Targeted killings

In October 1998, he was charged with the June 1996 Kudirat Abiola murder, wife of the presidential candidate M.K.O. Abiola (who had died in jail in July 1998). At the trial the killer, Sergeant Barnabas Jabila, said he was obeying orders from his superior, al-Mustapha.

Al Mustapha and four others were also charged with a 1996 attempt to murder Alex Ibru, publisher of The Guardian and Abacha’s Minister of Internal Affairs. Another charge was laid against al-Mustapha for the attempted murder of former Chief of Naval Staff Isaac Porbeni.

Overthrow the government

On 1 April 2004, he was charged with being involved in a plot to overthrow the government. Allegedly he had conspired with others to shoot down the helicopter carrying President Olusegun Obasanjo using a surface-to-air missile that had been smuggled into the country from Benin.

Drug trafficking

As chief security officer to the former head of state, General Sani Abacha, al-Mustapha was accused of involvement in drug trafficking, using diplomatic pouches to transport the drugs.

Credit: Wikipedia