More facts have emerged on how Sergeant Barnabas Jabila
Mshiela, aka Sergeant Rogers, a member of the killer squad allegedly trained
and maintained by Major Hamza Al Mustapha the former Chief Security Officer of
late General Sani Abacha, on how Mustapha ordered him and others to assassinate
Kudirat Abiola, the wife of Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the June
12 1993 general election.
Although Mustapha was acquitted of the murder of Mrs. Abiola
a few months ago by the Court of Appeal following a 14-year trial, a YouTube
video uploaded Monday on the website of online news medium Sahara Reporters,
has revealed Sgt. Rogers being cross-examined by lawyers of a commission set up
to investigate Mustapha and the Strike Force that he headed.
In the video, Sgt. Rogers, who served as a prosecution
witness for the state during Mustapha’s trial, admitted that he had been
involved in the assassination of three people.
Excerpts of the cross-examination is shown below:
Counsel: You are not on trial here at all. It is a
fact-finding mission. Were you a member of a strike force?
Rogers: From 1994 up till now. Major Al Mustapha was in charge of all
security, so he was the head. The Strike Force is a unit of the security. Yes,
he has been the head of the strike force department.
Counsel: I will want to assume none of you can undertake
assignments without him?
Rogers: No.
Counsel: How many assassinations have you been involved in?
Rogers: I have gone on three assassinations… But let me
explain.
Counsel: Yes, you will explain… You took the assignments on
the order of Mustapha…
Rogers: Yes sir. I was only involved in one (in which
someone was killed).
Counsel: What about the other two:
Rogers: The first was Alex Ibru. The second was Abraham
Adesanya.
Counsel: So Mustapha has been lying that he never sent you
on any assignment?
Rogers: I am not surprised that he refused to take
responsibility because it takes the spirit of a man to take responsibility.
Counsel: From what I hear, you are a Christian…
Rogers: Yes. I said that because of your last response that
it takes spirit to take such a responsibility.
Counsel: You knew Rear Admiral Omotewa. He was a famous
military man.
Rogers: I don’t know him. I just read in the papers that he
was killed. I read about him in the TELL Magazine in which it was said that I
was involved in his assassination.
Counsel: You said you had nothing to do with his
assassination?
Rogers: No.
Counsel: Do you know if any other unit of the Strike Force
had anything to do with that?
Rogers: I don’t know.
Counsel: How many were usually sent by Mustapha to kill
Chief X for instance?
Rogers: There are state operations. The Security Department
contains different departments. Major Mustapha was the one in charge of all
security….so he has the power to send anybody to carry out any assignment.
Counsel: So he had the power to kill anyone?
Rogers: Yes Sir.
Counsel: So Mustapha has treated us to a lot of lies.
Counsel: Sgt. Rogers, permit me to call you that. You were
involved in one assassination in which a particular person was killed. But you
didn’t tell us who that person is?
Rogers: The person is Alhaja Kudirat Abiola… Excuse me,
though I was told not to say it here, but ahh...
Counsel: That’s all right, you don’t have to say it.
Rogers: No, I can talk about it, if you want.
Counsel: Do you know one Lt. Col. Ibrahim Umar, I.S. Umar?
Rogers: Yes I know him very well
Counsel: In what capacity?
Rogers: Umar was the second in command of Strike Force
before, but later on he had a problem during the 1997 coup, in which he was
invited to the SIP. So at the SIP he had
a problem and they released… Do you want me to tell you everything I know about
him?
Counsel: Yes please, go ahead.
Rogers: I.S. Umar was our second in command in the Strike
Force. He has been a very good officer, but he could not make it while we were
in training school. There was a fight among the trainees. We were trained by
Israelis. We were trained together but he couldn’t make it so Major Mustapha
said we should manage him. So he was managed. Then when we were posted to
Abuja, he was always going alone, but sometimes he did not like to take
instructions from our Oga, Ikilama.
Counsel: What sort of sentiments was he bringing?
Rogers: The strike comprised all tribes, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba,
Efik, different tribes. It is a lie people have been saying it was only the
northerners; it is a lie. But when he was in the strike force, he tried to
bring segregation into the Strike Force. So he was being sidelined, that is the
truth, they did not give him responsibilities. But we were being called upon
and given responsibilities…
Counsel: Lt. Umar testified before the commission that you
came to him to sign for a silencer. Is that correct?
Rogers: I am in charge of logistics in the Strike Force. All
the logistics in the Strike Force is my responsibility, all the food,
ammunition, silencer, weapons, all had to pass through me. So if there was
anything that was going out of that place, it must pass through me. So for him
to say that I came to ask for a silencer from him, I don’t think he was telling
the truth. And the weapons that I used, are factory fitted with silencer, so I
did not need a silencer from him.
Counsel: Was he also aware of these assassination?
Rogers: When we came back from the Kudirat assignment, he
was a bit disgruntled. Umar now told me: “I don’t have skeletons in my
cupboard.” So I asked him what he meant. He said, “Your Oga would like to send
you on assignment and won’t tell anybody, but you think I don’t know.” He was
trying to infer that I was (I am) very close to Mustapha. But no one was close
to Mustapha. May be the closest person to him was his personal security. Also,
we never went on assignments alone. We are many and they say three is a crowd.
If I keep quiet, Mr. B may not keep quiet.
Counsel: I suppose I will be right to say there were many
sub-units in the Strike Force. Apart from the assassination squad to which you
belonged, were there others?
Rogers: There is nothing like the assassination squad. Any
time there was assignment what they used to tell us was that these people
wanted to break this country into two; they are importing arms and ammunition
into Nigeria. We would go into the bush searching for arms and ammunition; no
food at times. We were doing it wholeheartedly for the sake of Nigeria and we
believed them. But later on, when Abacha died, I saw some of those people we
were looking for as terrorists, as people who were importing arms and
ammunition into Nigeria; as people that they said were inviting terrorists to
kill Abacha. We would go and be waiting for them throughout, but we would not
see them. We would lay ambush, day and night, and not see them. Though we had
contact agents but still not see them. So when Abdulsalam came into power, I
saw some of these people again, they came to the Villa and I was surprised. So
I met with General Bamayi again who believed I would have run away. But we were
expecting to be praised that these are the people that served this country. And
Col. Jeb Yakubu told us not to be afraid, that our name will enter a book, that
we are the ones that fought for this country, for the unity of the country. It
was pathetic but that was the basis for these our operations.
Counsel: You’re now a born again Christian, looking back on
all those activities, do you feel any remorse?
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