by Kemi Omosanya

A Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere has sentenced Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late dictator, Sani Abacha, to death by hanging.

Al-Mustapha and one Lateef Shofolahan have been standing trial for over twelve years, for the murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Moshood Abiola.

Al-Mustapha was accused of ordering Sgt Rogers to kill Kudirat, who was shot dead on June 4, 1996 along the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Lagos toll gate, opposite Cargo Vision, Ikeja in Lagos.The prosecution also accused Shofolahan, who was said to have been Kudirat’s protocol officer, of revealing the deceased’s itinerary to her assailants

In another development, the trial of former Niger-Delta militant and suspected terrorist, Henry Okah has been postponed till October 1, 2012.

Okah, who was arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa on October 2, 2010, is standing trial in the South Gauteng High Court, South Africa for allegedly masterminding the October 1, 2010 Independence Day car bombings in Nigeria in which 12 people were killed and many others injured.

Okah was a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta and was granted amnesty by the Yar’Adua government before the October 1, 2010 bombing.