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Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha, a former Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, has been compulsorily retired from the Army, Punch reports, after sighting his retirement letter.
A military source explained that his compulsory retirement was informed by his unavailability in the Army for a period of over 14 years, while he was away to face trial over the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, a wife of the winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.
The retirement letter was dated July 14, 2014 and it put the period the former Head of State’s CSO was in the army at 33 years and 11 days.
Recall that after Abacha’s death on June 8, 1998, Al-Mustapha was arrested in October of the same year for the murder of Kudirat, an offence for which he was tried for 14 years.
The Federal Government also pressed other charges which did not succeed against Al-Mustapha during the period.
He was subsequently sentenced to death for Kudirat’s murder by a Lagos High Court in Igbosere on January 30, 2012, but he was discharged and acquitted on July 12, 2013 by a superior judgment of the Court of Appeal in Lagos.