The Supreme Court has dismissed the trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, for the murder of  Kudirat Abiola.
   
The deceased was the wife of the late businessman and politician,  MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election that was annulled by former military President Ibrahim Babangida.
   
Kudirat was, however, murdered in Lagos in the nationwide crisis that followed the annulment and, in the course of her persistent struggle to get the annulment reversed by the military.The trial of Al-Mustapha in the murder charge brought against him by the Lagos State government was, however, put to rest yesterday by a five-man panel of judges, headed by Justice Uwani Aba-Aji .
   
At the proceedings where Lagos State was slated to reopen the trial, no legal representation was made, while no process was filed since 2014 when an order to reopen the case was granted in its favour.
   
When the matter was called, Paul Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), stood for Al-Mustapha and informed the justices that Lagos had not taken any step to implement the order granted it in 2014 to reopen the trial. He said not even a notice of appeal was filed by Lagos as the appellant to demonstrate its seriousness to prosecute the trial.
   
The senior lawyer informed the apex court that in 2014, when the order to reopen the trial was granted, Lagos was issued a 30-day ultimatum to file its notice of appeal.
 
Daudu explained that more than nine years later, nothing had been done to comply with the order.  He, therefore, urged the court to hold that the appellant had abandoned the case and should be dismissed in its entirety.
 
Justice Aba-Aji, who presided over the matter, sought to know if Lagos was served with a hearing notice; the question was answered in the affirmative by the Registrar of the court.  In a brief ruling, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, agreed that Lagos had lost interest in the matter and consequently abandoned it.
   
Consequently, the matter marked SC/CR/45/2014 was dismissed.  Another matter by the Lagos governor marked SC/CR/6/2014 on the same trial was also dismissed on the same ground.