The founder of the
Oodua People’s Congress, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, in this interview with
ALLWELL OKPI, explains why he went to Kano with Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha,
the former Chief Security Officer of late Head of State, Gen. Sani
Abacha
How can you define your relationship with Hamza Al-Mustapha?
He
is a Nigerian, I’m a Nigerian. He is a Nigerian citizen that was
wrongly accused and I’m a crusader for justice. I felt that he was a
victim of injustice. I thought my attribution and characteristics should
come to play by telling the entire world that there was no justice in
the treatment he was given for an offence he did not commit.
Many
believe that Al-Mustapha masterminded the assassination of several
people, including Kudirat Abiola, and some people testified to that in
court. How come you say he is innocent?
Is
that not the story we were told? Is that not what the media gave to the
public? The press didn’t write to tell the Nigerian public that one of
the same witnesses that said Al-Mustapha gave him the gun with which he
killed Kudirat came back to court, crying like a baby and saying he was
induced by the state to give the evidence. ‘Who is the state?’ He
mentioned three levels, including the director-general of the State
Security Service at the time. ‘What were you induced with?’ He said they
promised that he would be given a house in Abuja; he would be posted
outside the country; he would be paid salary in foreign currency, and
his wife would be given money every month for sustenance. When the state
failed in its part of the bargain, he decided to confess the true
version of his involvement. Some of the witnesses, as a result of
complying with the wishes of the state, were set free and they were
walking the streets freely. They even went back to their jobs. One of
them was not even in Lagos in June, 1996. On June 4, when Kudirat was
murdered, Katako was getting married in Azare, in Bauchi State. He got
married at 10am; Kudirat was killed between 8 and 9am. And the judge of
the lower court was told all that and she recorded everything said by
those witnesses, and she based her judgment of hanging on those two
witnesses. That was prosecution witness numbers two and three. When the
judge of the lower court was going to give judgment, she knew that such a
crime might earn death sentence, she itemised the evidences but said
there were circumstantial evidences. Circumstantial evidences in murder
case? What are these circumstantial evidences, she didn’t say. She wrote
326 pages of judgment. What was she looking for writing 326 pages of
judgment? According to the Appeal Court, she was fishing for truth,
falsehood and lies. The Appeal Court wrote about 32 pages destroying her
judgment, with various authorities cited. At the end, the Appeal Court
didn’t see what circumstances the lower court based its judgment, so it
refused the judgment on hard facts and evidences from credible
witnesses; not witnesses that gave evidences and came back to retract
them.
Don’t you think those people would have been induced to retract their earlier testimony?
That
is ridiculous. Who will induce them? Al-Mustapha was in prison. Don’t
forget that he was even accused of planning a coup in prison and some
generals even said he was attempting to import stinger missiles into
Nigeria. And when they called him to face the panel, he disgraced the
entire panel by asking them questions. He asked them how much a stinger
missile cost. None of them knew. He told them that the smallest type
cost $250m (N40.3bn). Where will he get that in prison? And in that
coup, I was supposed to have been his accomplice. The SSS invited me and
queried me. I told them to put their questions in writing and I would
respond in writing. They retreated.
How come they linked you with Al-Mustapha in the supposed coup plot, were you that close to him?
I
don’t know. I’ve always believed that Al-Mustapha did not commit the
offence. So, I would occasionally visit him in Kirikiri. I met
Al-Mustapha during the seating of Oputa Panel. I didn’t know him before
that time. Even at the panel. I didn’t know him until when I had given
my own evidence and I was going to the toilet and he was sitting near
the entrance of the toilet. And when I wanted to enter the toilet, he
stood up and said, ‘you are Dr. Fasehun?’ I said ‘and you?’ He said ‘I’m
Al-Mustapha.’ I said, ‘you Al-Mustapha?’ And I didn’t say a word to him
again. But when that seating ended, he came to me. He said, ‘sir,
congratulations.’ I said, ‘what for?’ Mind you, I still had that grudge
against him. He said because you are one of the few leaders that didn’t
come to Aso Rock Villa. I said ‘thank you.’ It was about three months
later that I took interest in his case. Then, I started visiting him
regularly until he started telling me so many things. I prevailed on him
that as a military man, there are some information that he should not
give to me. I told him we will be friends, provided he didn’t set this
country ablaze.
Many people, including Yoruba leaders, have questioned your trip to Kano with Al-Mustapha. Why did you go all the way?
I
once said they should release Al-Mustapha. If they don’t release him,
they should take him to Abuja, Jos or Sokoto. They should take him out
of Yorubaland. A fifth columnist could have been sent to liquidate that
young man and, if he died in our hands, every Yoruba throat in the North
would be slashed. All those that failed to leave the North will be
killed. Now that God has prevailed on the situation and he did not die
in our hands, I took him there to hand him over to the governor and the
Galadima of Kano, because the Emir of Kano was not in town. I told them
that when Al-Mustapha was leaving Kano, he was in tatters, his hands
were in shackles and his legs were in chains. I’m returning him on
behalf of the Yoruba people hale and hearty, please look after him. I
was not thinking of my own interest, because at 78, I’m not afraid of
death. I did it for my people. When we got to Kano, the crowd was not
singing any other thing but Oodua, Oodua. It was not Dr. Fasehun, it was
Oodua. After I had spoken there, one of their big leaders said, ‘Dr.
Fasehun, we kept quiet watching what you were doing.’ I didn’t know what
he meant by ‘you.’ He added, ‘but after this journey, we see you as the
greatest bridge-builder.’ When I was leaving, 45 northern leaders saw
me off. So, it dawned on me that what I did was not a child’s play. On
Monday, the Youruba community in Kano, which is four million-strong,
invited me to speak to them. When I explained to them why I was in Kano,
the Sheik amongst them said ‘sir’, we have nothing to give you but we
are giving you a chieftaincy title, High Chief Olododo.’
You
said you went Kano on behalf of Yoruba people, but some Afenifere
leaders have faulted that trip, saying you were not representing the
Yoruba. How do you reconcile this?
I didn’t say I was representing the Yoruba and I didn’t interact with Afenifere leaders or anybody at all on that issue.
But
their grouse is that you openly associated with Al-Mustapha, who
represents the Sani Abacha regime that persecuted a lot of Yoruba
people.
That is the lingering
grudge we all had against Al-Mustapha. He was part of a regime that
persecuted Yoruba people. But, should human beings nurse grudges for 20
years?
You have been accused of
being sponsored to destabilise the South-West and some have said your
trip to Kano further proved that. What’s your response to that?
With
all modesty, I will be counted as one of those the Yoruba people that
are in love with Yoruba people. There is no way I would work against the
interest of the Yoruba. Those who are sponsoring damaging comments
about me are doing it from their political standpoint, which I’ve been
trying to expose. But unfortunately, I don’t have money to sponsor the
exposure. The Yoruba people of current times think money is everything.
Many of them don’t believe in integrity. They don’t even believe in what
(Obafemi) Awolowo struggled for. They are encouraging a one-man
dictatorship, smuggling in one-party system into the South-West through
the back door. I’ve been trying to remove the veil from the eyes of
Yoruba people. If I see trends inimical to the interest of Yoruba
people, I should be in a position to say ‘don’t go there, a tiger is
lurking behind the door.’
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