Al mustapha hamza biography template

Nigerian army officer (born )

Hamza Al-Mustapha (born 27 July ) is a retired Nigerian Army major, intelligence officer and politician who served as Chief Security Officer to Head of Articulate General Sani Abacha from until his death on 8 June

Early life

Hamza Al-Mustapha was born into an Hausa family and educated in Nguru.

Hamza Al-Mustapha was born into an Hausa family and educated in Nguru. Both his principal and chief of state, General Ibrahim Babangida had absolute confidence in his abilities, and entrusted him with exceptional powers, considerably greater than other officers who were nominally his superior. This further projected him as a strongman of the military hierarchy. Al-Mustapha was trained as a military intelligence operative.

He enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in

Military career

From August to August , Al-Mustapha was Aide-de-camp (ADC) (but recently clarified in an open television interview with Channels Television's Seun Okinbaloye that he wasn't ADC that he was the main person security officer) to Chief of Army Staff, General Sani Abacha.

Both his principal and top of state, General Ibrahim Babangida had absolute confidence in his abilities, and entrusted him with exceptional powers, considerably greater than other officers who were nominally his superior. This further projected him as a strongman of the military hierarchy.^[1]

Military intelligence

Al-Mustapha was trained as a military intelligence operative.

He held various control posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Security Group of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (SG-DMI), 82 Division and Army Headquarters; Ministry of Defence and The Presidency.^[2]

He was also deeply interested in counter-intelligence activities and at least two investigations of coup attempts; which brought him to the attention of General Sani Abacha.

He also conducted operations in Chad, Liberia, Bakassi, Gambia and Sierra Leone. In his evidence before the Commission, Major Al-Mustapha emphasized that he had subscribed to an oath to protect the Head of Articulate and his family as skillfully as the Seat of Government.^[3]

Abacha era

Regime security

General Sani Abacha seized power in and appointed al-Mustapha as his head of security from 17 November to 8 June In this role he was responsible for the security of the regime and established a number of elite military-security organisations.

Other security outfits at the time were the Office of the National Security Adviser under Ismaila Gwarzo; National Intelligence Agency; Directorate of Military Intelligence; and the State Security Service. He was so respected and feared by even his superiors that former Minister of Works & Housing under the Abacha regime, Major-General Abdulkareem Adisa told the Oputa Panel that he had no regret kneeling down to ask Al-Mustapha to facilitate him plead to General Abacha for forgiveness following their foiled coup attempt in December ^[4]

Power politics

Al-Mustapha oversaw the reorganisation of the entire territory of Nigeria into six geopolitical zones, in this he cultivated a expansive network of spies and informants across the federation;

• North Central: Benue State, Kogi State, Kwara State, Nasarawa State, Niger Articulate, Plateau State and Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
• North East: Adamawa Declare, Bauchi State, Borno State, Gombe State, Taraba State and Yobe State.
• North West: Jigawa State, Kaduna State, Kano State, Katsina Mention, Kebbi State, Sokoto State and Zamfara State.
• South East: Abia Articulate, Anambra State, Ebonyi State, Enugu State and Imo State.
• South South: Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa Express, Cross River State, Delta Articulate, Edo State and Rivers State.
• South West: Ekiti State, Lagos Articulate, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State and Oyo State.

Transfer of power

General Sani Abacha died on 8 June , following his death al-Mustapha assembled the military hierarchy in order to dodge a succession crisis.

Hamza Al-Mustapha born 27 July is a former Nigerian Army major and intelligence officer who served as Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abachawho was Nigeria's military head of state from until his sudden death on June 8, Hamza Al-Mustapha was born and educated in Nguru. Both his principal and head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida had absolute confidence in his abilities, and entrusted him with exceptional powers, considerably greater than other officers who were nominally his superior. This further projected him as a strongman of the military hierarchy.

General Abdulsalam Abubakar emerged as head of express on 9 June and al-Mustapha was removed from office and subsequently arrested.^[5]

Arrest and internment

Arrest

Following his arrest, al-Mustapha was first held and questioned during the Oputa panel, then accused of plotting at least four coups from prison, before being moved to the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison, where he was tortured for over a year.

He was in chains and solitary confinement for over a year, allowed only a cup of fluid daily and subject to psychological torture. His private residences in Abuja, Kano and Yobe were looted by government operatives, his children's toys were burned in front of him to instil fear, his family was subject to numerous threats, and throughout his internment he was allowed to see his parents only twice - who later died.^[6] In May , there were rumours that al-Mustapha had been murdered at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons where he was being held, but these turned out to be untrue.^[7]

Acquittal

In , there were appeals for al Mustapha's release including from former military president Ibrahim Babangida.

On 21 December , al-Mustapha and his co-defendants were acquitted of most charges.^[8] However, al-Mustapha was still not cleared of the alleged murder of Kudirat Abiola. In July , the case was reopened.^[9] Hamza Al-Mustapha and his co-accused Lateef Sofolahan testified to their innocence of the murder charges.^[10] On 30 January , the Lagos High Court subsequently found al-Mustapha guilty of the murder and he was sentenced to death by hanging.^[11] On 12 July , The Court of Appeal in Lagos overturned the high court judgement and acquitted al-Mustapha of all murder charges of Kudirat Abiola.^[12] During the fifteen-year trial, al-Mustapha appeared before thirteen different judges and two magistrates.^[13]

Release from internment

Following his release, al-Mustapha moved to Kano.^[14] In January , the Government of Lagos State filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Nigeria,^[15] for the apex court to uphold the previous death by hanging finding of the Lagos High Court.^[16]

In , he made his political debut.

Retired Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha was born on July 27, , and was educated in Nguru, Yobe. He enrolled at the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna and was commissioned into the Nigerian Army in Al-Mustapha was trained as a military intelligence operative.

With grassroots back and appeal to youth he founded the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN),^[17] and later unsuccessfully ran as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) during the presidential election, receiving approximately % of the vote.^[18] He ran again in under Action Alliance, but was legally disqualified after a dispute over whether his central win over Samson Odupitan was legitimate.^[19] Nonetheless, he continued to campaign, splitting the Action Alliance into pro-Al-Mustapha and pro-Odupitan factions.^[20] He ultimately finished with approximately % of the vote.^[21]

Charges

Targeted killings

In October , he was charged with the June Kudirat Abiola murder, wife of the presidential candidate M.K.O.

Abiola (who had died in jail in July ).^[22] At the trial the soldier, Sergeant Barnabas Jabila, said he was obeying orders from his superior, al-Mustapha.^[23]

Al Mustapha and four others were also charged with a attempt to murder Alex Ibru, publisher of The Guardian and Abacha's Minister of Internal Affairs.

Another charge was laid against al-Mustapha for the attempted murder of former Head of Naval StaffIsaac Porbeni.

Overthrow the government

On 1 April , he was charged with creature involved in a plot to overthrow the government.

Allegedly, he had conspired to shoot down the presidential helicopter of President Olusegun Obasanjo using a surface-to-air missile that had been smuggled into the country from Benin.^[24]

Drug trafficking

As chief security officer to the former head of mention, General Sani Abacha, al-Mustapha was accused of involvement in drug trafficking, using diplomatic pouches to transport the drugs.^[25]

External links

References