The Federal Government has been sued by the late Mrs. Kudirat Abiola’s children in the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja over the murder of their mother. Mrs. Kudirat Abiola was the wife of Chief MKO Abiola, who won the 1993 presidential election.
Their attorney, Femi Falana, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday with the case number ECW/CCJ/APP/62/2022 (SAN).
On June 4, 1996, Mrs. Abiola was fatally shot while driving in the Oregun neighborhood of Lagos. At the time, she was spearheading the campaign for her husband’s unconditional release from prison after he had proclaimed himself president based on the results of the invalidated election.
Falana recalled that Sergeant Barnabas Jabila (also known as Sergeant Rogers), a member of the killer squad formed by the military junta, confessed to killing Mrs. Abiola and attempting to kill the late Senators Abraham Adesanya and Alex Ibru on orders from Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, General Sani Abacha’s chief security officer, between November 1993 and June 1998 during a hearing of the Oputa panel in Lagos.
He argued that “the failure or refusal of the defendant to protect the life of Late Alhaja Kudirat Abiola in the Republic of Nigeria amounts to a violation of Articles 1,4,5,18 and 23 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights.
”
The reliefs being sought include “an order directing the defendant to charge Sergeant Barnabas Jebila (a.k.a. Rogers) Mohammed Abdul (a.k.a Katako) and Aminu Mohammed with murder for the brutal killing of Mrs Kudirat Abiola in Lagos on June 4, 1996.
“An order directing the defendant to pay the sum of million to the applicants as compensation for the unlawful killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.
”
