by Chi Ibe

An alleged victim himself, the Leader of the Niger-Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF) Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo has asked to Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer, CSO, to ex-Head of State, late General Sani Abacha to forgive his opponents including those who wanted him dead.

On Sunday the two were said to have met in Asari-Dokubo at his Abuja residence.

There, Asari-Dokubo reportedly said that he was convinced that Al-Mustapha never killed late Kudirat Abiola, a case that led to Al-Mustapha’s arrest and subsequent incarceration for 15 years.

“For me as a person, I was very convinced that you were not part of what happened because I was very close to Kudirat and I was very close to the Lagos group that was responsible for the judicial manipulation that was going on. And I wrote those things and people said we were paid to write. People believe that anybody who says the truth or has a contrary opinion has been paid to do it,” Asari-Dokubo said.

“We just thank God that this is not a period for politics and making political statements but what is important is that truth has prevailed and the hypocrisy of those who wanted to sacrifice an innocent man to satisfy their perceived interest.

“As a brother, I will tell you to forgive all the people who have offended you over these years they have kept you there. Many be even if you were around, you would have died. In one way or another, they would have killed you if you have not been away but Allah who kept you alive this period of difficulty when it was quite easy to kill you didn’t put it in their mind.

“For me, forgive them. It is when you forgive that you gain more benefits from Allah.

According to reports, Al-Mustapha responded, saying:

“You know there were 10 panels I faced in five years. None of these panels found me guilty of anything. My offence was just one: Mrs. Abiola’s murder. All in all, I stayed for 5 years, 2 months in solitary detention.”

Vanguard news reports that the former CSO who said he chose not to assume power during the death of General Abacha regretted that some people took advantage of his humility and loyalty to the service of the country to punish him unjustly but God used him to steady the country which was thrown into commotion at the death of Abacha.

 

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“Ours is to serve, preserve the country and I did. If I had wanted, after the death of General Sani Abacha, this country was to witness another thing. But in our character, ours is to serve the country and I did. No body fires one bullet the day General Abacha died. God gave me the courage. But there we’re so many confusion, so many agitation at that time.

“But God used me to stabilize a course and it is the course that gave birth to this democracy. So, if I had not done so that time, we would have changed the course of history. Bur because we kept quiet, we were humble and committed to the country, people now turned it around.”