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Africa News
October 9, 2001 Tuesday
Nigeria; Blood On Their Hands

The story of the cruel murder of Chief M.K.O. Abiola is finally told at the Oputa Panel.
It was a miracle that Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, lasted one full month under the regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Nigeria's immediate past military dictator.
Indeed, fresh revelations at the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission's sitting in Abuja clearly indicate that even if the Abubakar regime did not deliberately set out to poison Chief Abiola in detention, the Chief did not stand the chance of being alive for too long given the fact that even while Abiola was being subjected to immense pressure to renounce his election mandate by the regime and the international community, virtually nothing was done to safeguard his health as he had been denied medical care by Abubakar's predecessor, General Sani Abacha.
Worse still, new facts also indicate that the Abubakar regime even while giving the impression that Abiola was on the verge of being freed, never even ensured that he was properly fed. Abiola, the Oputa panel was told, had nothing in his stomach when he breathed his last on 7 July 1998. Commission members and the public were shocked beyond words when Major A.M Aliyu, who as Chief Security Officer to then Head of State, General Abubakar had the task of overseeing Abiola's affairs, revealed to the commission last week under cross-examination that for the one month Abiola was in the custody of the Abubakar regime, no doctor or medical personnel was allowed to see him.
Inspite of the fact that Abiola on meeting Major Aliyu for the first time, had complained about his swollen legs and requested to see his doctor. "I was making arrangement to bring his doctor to Abuja but we were making arrangement when he died", Major Aliyu told the commission. "So it now took one month to get a doctor for a man who complained that he was not feeling fine?" Asked Mr. Femi Falana, counsel for the Abiola family.
Asked if he was aware that Abiola was hypertensive, Major Aliyu said he did not know Abiola's medical history since he was not told by his predecessor, Major Hamza Al Mustapha, the Chief Security Officer to late General Abacha. Aliyu, under cross-examination also told the commission that for the one month Abiola was in his custody, no medical doctor was assigned to him. "I don't know the doctor in-charge of Abiola.
There was no doctor in-charge of him", Major Aliyu said. Aliyu also told the commission that he did not know who was cooking the food Abiola was being served.
"It was not my job to know who was cooking Chief's food," Aliyu held.
On the thorny issue of the tea Abiola was served on the day of his death, Major Aliyu confirmed earlier claims by both Major Hamza Al Mustapha and the then Chief Security Officer to Chief Abiola, A.S.P. T.
Zaddock. The tea, Aliyu said was served Abiola by a member of the visiting American delegation, Ms Susan Rice, who was then the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, in the American State Department.
So why was it the duty of the American to serve Abiola tea? Major Aliyu told the commission that Abiola had initially declined the tea when it was first served but eventually accepted if from Susan Rice when he suddenly started coughing profusely. "Susan Rice gave Chief Abiola the tea because she was the only woman in the place. Chief Abiola took the tea and the coughing increased...", Aliyu said.
Asked if he tasted the tea before it was handed to Chief Abiola, Aliyu said he did not taste the tea. In fact, he told the commission that he was not aware of any rules that stipulated that Abiola's food or water be tasted before they were served him.
But beyond the apparent carelessness and ineptitude of Major A.M. Aliyu, counsel for the Abiola family, as well as the counsels for both Al-Mustapha and Brig-Gen. Ibrahim Sabo, the ex-boss of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), at the commission's sitting last week, fervently argued that Major A.M.
Aliyu, merely acted out the roles assigned to him in a grand plot by both the Federal Military Government under General Abdulsalami Abubakar and the international community to eliminate Chief M.K.O.
Abiola, simply because he refused to renounce his mandate as Nigeria's president-elect.
Under cross-examination by Mr. Femi Falana, Major A.M.
Aliyu said he could not recall any other time a foreigner served a detainee tea in Nigeria. He equally could not recall a detainee being photographed and the picture wildly circulated in the media. Falana even held that Abiola began coughing and choking after he had taken the tea and not before, as claimed by Major Aliyu.
It was the view of Falana that Mr. Zaddock, who ordinarily would have tasted the tea before handing it over to Chief Abiola was tricked out of Aguda House where Abiola was meeting the American delegation because already, there was a premeditated scheme to harm Abiola.
In an earlier testimony, A.S.P Zaddock had told the commission that his sudden re-call to the presidential villa to open the doors to the offices of the then Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, was most unusual given the fact that the authorities knew that he needed to be with Chief Abiola while he was meeting with the visitors. At last week's hearing, Major Aliyu accepted that a radio message came in while Abiola was being moved to Aguda House, for Zaddock to come and open the office of the CGS but denied that it was a plot to lure Zaddock away.
"Zaddock was under me, he was just a bloody officer under me, I don't need to lure him away. I can just tell him, get out of here I don't want to see you. If I wanted him out I would have told him so, I did not have to trick him", Major Aliyu replied.
But why did it take the then Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, all of three weeks after his appointment to gain access to his office, and why the insistence that Zaddock be the one to open the office?
These were some of the questions thrown to Major Aliyu. And his answers, were simply: "I don't know," "I can't tell".
Major Aliyu, however, recalled that during the three weeks that Akhigbe was without office, he operated "between the Head of State's office and the corridors in the Villa". This many thought was curious.
Even then, for Mr. Femi Falana, the most glaring indication that Abiola was murdered was what he described as the "haste" by both the military regime of General Abubakar and the American authorities to explain away the cause of Abiola's death.
Falana told the commission that even before the autopsy report on Abiola was ready, General Abubakar had told Nigerians that Abiola died of "natural causes". The same line was eventually repeated by the American delegation led by Mr. Thomas Pickering. Even President Bill Clinton of the United States of America then, said Abiola died of natural causes.
Curiously, the autopsy report on Abiola, which was tendered at last Tuesday's hearing said Abiola died of natural causes. This was inspite of the fact that the same autopsy report claimed that Abiola, prior to his death suffered from the twin ailment of chronic heart disease and hypertension." My Lord, how did they know that the autopsy report would show that Abiola died of natural causes? Falana asked.
They already knew what the coroners would write," Falana told the commission. Falana further rubbished claims by the coroners, who were mainly Americans, Britons and Canadian that they spoke to all those who witnessed Abiola's death.
Indeed, under cross-examination, Major Aliyu accepted that he was not spoken to by the coroners.
"So Major Aliyu, you would agree with me that those who carried out the autopsy on Abiola have not told the whole truth? Falana asked, to which Aliyu replied, "based on this report, I agree with you". Both the commissioners and members of the public were stunned.
In his testimony, Aliyu had told the commission that Susan Rice broke the news of Abiola's death to the family of Chief Abiola. "She (Rice) was telling them take heart, there is no foul play, we saw all what happened... But under cross-examination, Major Aliyu pleaded to withdraw the area where he claimed that Susan Rice told the Abiola family that there was no foul play.
He equally changed his claim that Susan Rice broke the news of Abiola's death to the Abiola family. This time, Aliyu claimed that it was General Abubakar who broke the news to them "in front of Ms. Susan Rice." The seeming incoherence of Major Aliyu, Mrs. Chinwe Uwandu, counsel to the commission posited, was because he had been tutored to give a particular line of evidence.
Mr. Bala Ibn Na'Allah, counsel to Mustapha agreed and in fact argued that Major Aliyu has enough reasons to protect certain individuals. One of these reasons, Na'allah held, was the privileged position the authorities elevated Aliyu to after Abiola's death.
Under cross-examination by Na'allah, Major Aliyu accepted that he was the only one among his course mates at the Nigerian Defence Academy (Course 33), who is presently attending a staff course abroad. Indeed, Na'allah informed the commission that Major Aliyu's seniors (course 32) who are currently attending staff courses were either in Jaji or Ghana.
"So Major Aliyu, you will agree with me that your being in an American Staff School is a privilege," Na'Allah queried.
At last week's hearing, Major Aliyu could not explain why the regime of General Abubakar was reluctant to free Abiola even when other political prisoners and detainees were freed barely days after Abacha died. He also could not explain why the government then was mounting pressure on Abiola to renounce his mandate as a pre-condition for his release.
Major Aliyu could not also explain why the government could not move Abiola to a more comfortable place even as negotiations continued. But above all, Major Aliyu could not tell if Abiola's death in detention was a deliberate elimination aimed at paving way for the emergence of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as Nigeria's second executive president. The testimony of Major Aliyu even left more questions unanswered.
It is the view of the commission led by the eminent jurist, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, that the only man that can help unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Abiola is General Abdulsalami Abubakar himself General Abubakar was expected to testify before the commission on 10 September, but he stayed away. Another former military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, snubbed the commission last week.
As sitting resumed during the week, lawyers for Abubakar and Babangida continued their arguments that both men could testify by proxy. This was, however, opposed by the fiery Lagos lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), who is appearing in the case of unlawful murder of Mr. Dele Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine. Fawehinmi contended that the Tribunal of Public Inquiries Act empowered the commission to summon anybody and that a refusal to appear was an act of disrespect to the Tribunal which translated to contempt of the Tribunal.
Chief Fawehinmi, citing at least a dozen authorities, argued that a counsel could not represent a respondent once a witness summons had been issued.
"The role of the counsel and client, in the case of witness summons cannot be merged.
Each has a distinct role to play, the role of a counsel does not include to give evidence, "Fawehinmi argued. Chief G.O.K. Ajayi (SAN), agreed with Fawehinmi on this score. Ajayi said that summons by the commission were witness summons as evidenced in section 5 of the enabling Act, hence appearance by proxy could not be allowed. But Mr. Clement Akpamgbo (SAN), appearing for Babangida and Mr. Olajide Ayodele (SAN), for General Abubakar insisted that the law permits both Babangida and Abubakar to give evidence by proxy. Justice Oputa will rule on this argument of appearance by proxy on 3 October. But the commission members, last week decried the resort of both Babangida and Abubakar to legal technicalities to stay away from the commission. "If we want to save this country we must end this fruitless legalism. We will be here talking law and Nigeria will be burning", lamented Oputa.
The commission chairman held that it would be difficult for the panel to get to the root of several past rights violations if past leaders failed to give evidence. Indeed, by last week, views of many watchers of events at the Oputa Panel was that unless General Abubakar appeared before Oputa, the world may never know the truth about the mysterious death in detention of Chief Moshood Abiola.