MKO’s Children Drag FG Before ECOWAS Court, Seek $10m For Kudirat’s Murder

BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – Twenty-Five years after her assassination by suspected agents of the Nigerian government, children of the late Mrs Kudirat Abiola have dragged President Muhammadu Buhari’s government to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice in Abuja, demanding $10 million compensation for the unlawful killing of their mother.

Late Kudirat Abiola, was the wife of late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, popularly called MKO (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998), presumed winner of the June 12, !993 presidential elections.

Marked ECW/CCJ/APP/62/2022, the suit was filed on behalf of Khafila Abiola, Moriam Abiola, and Hadi Abiola by their counsel, Femi Falana, demanding that Sergeant Barnabas Jebila (alias Rogers), Mohammed Abdul (alias Katako) and Aminu Mohammed be charged with murder for the killing of their mother in Lagos on June 4, 1996.

Mrs Abiola was killed in her car around the Oregun area of Lagos State on June 4, 1996, at a time she led campaigns for the unconditional release of her husband then detained for declaring himself president based on the results of the annulled June 12 election.

Falana recalled that Sergeant Rogers, a member of the killer squad set up by the then military junta, had confessed during a sitting of the Oputa panel in Lagos on December 8, 2000, that he shot Mrs Abiola dead and also attempted to kill the late Senator Abraham Adesanya and Alex Ibru by shooting them on the instructions of the Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, who was the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of late General Sani Abacha, from November 1993 to June 1998.

Arguing 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 plaintiffs are seeking “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”.

Among the reliefs being sought by the plaintiffs include; “An order directing the defendant to pay the sum of $10 million to the applicants as compensation for the unlawful killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.”