Lawyer seeks access to suspect

2004-05-03 13:20

Lagos - A lawyer acting for a former Nigerian security chief accused of plotting against the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Monday he has lodged a formal request to be allowed to see his client.

Major Hamza al-Mustapha, once feared as former dictator Sani Abacha's right-hand man, has since March 31 been held incommunicado by military intelligence agents probing what Obasanjo's office called a "serious security breach".

Lawyer Olalekan Ojo said that he had lodged a suit at the Ikeja High Court in Lagos in a bid force the Directorate of Military Intellegence (DMI) to give him access to the detained man.

"The suspect has a case on May 4 and I need to have a pre-trial briefing with him," he said.

Prior to his being picked up by DMI agents, al-Mustapha had been held on remand in a civilian high-security jail, awaiting trial on a charge that he ordered the 1996 attempted murder of a newspaper publisher.

Ojo said he hoped that the military will produce his client for the murder trial on Tuesday.

"I believe they will respect the rule of law and the order of the court to produce him tomorrow," he said.

Last month, presiding judge Joseph Oyewole ordered the DMI to produce al-Mustapha in court for his civilian trial.

The case, which began in November 1999, has yet to make much progress as defence lawyers have deployed delaying tactics and two previous trial judges stepped down amid allegations of intimidation.

- AFP