SENATOR AL BISHIR TRIED TO KILL ME — MAJOR MUSTAPHA'S BROTHER

Younger brother of detained Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Hadi Al-Mustapha, has accused a one-time gubernatorial candidate of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in Yobe State, Senator Usman Al Bishir of several unsuccessful attempts at his life following his refusal to hand over to him the details of Al-Mustapha's wealth.

Hadi made the disclosure while testifying before a Chief Magistrate Court in Kano. Major Hamza Al- Mustapha, Chief Security Officer to the late General Sani Abacha, is currently in detention.

Led in evidence by a police Inspector, Mr. Idris Mallam, Hadi who is the principal witness in the case, affirmed that the senator had severally demanded all the details of the finances of his detained brother.

'He asked me to tell him where my brother kept all his money and the account numbers, and he said if I didn't tell him, the powers that be will seize and confiscate everything. He said he was trying to help me as my father-in-law.

He further disclosed: 'He said he heard what the government of the day in 1999 was trying to do, that I should hand over everything that I have to him and flee the country to the United States with his daughter, who is my wife.'

'He said that I should not be afraid of Al-Mustapha coming out to quarrel with me for handing over all his secrets to him, adding that all arrangements have been made to ensure that his detained brother remains in jail for a very long time', he recalled.

Hadi, however, explained that following his failure to heed the senator's entreaties regarding Mustapha's wealth and his links to the senator's political rivals in Yobe State, the senator allegedly resolved to come for his life.

He noted that it is against this background that the trio of Sergeant Adamu Danladi, a Police orderly attached to the senator, Alhaji Umaru Tata and Alhaji Musa Abdu, both of whom are domestic aides to the senator, attacked him with dangerous weapons including a rifle sometime ago in Kano. He said that he escaped to the Bompai Police Station, where the accused persons were apprehended by the police.

The three accused persons were arraigned on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, intent to commit offences of culpable homicide, contrary to Sections 96, 397 and 95 of the Penal Code.

The presiding magistrate, Chief Magistrate Aminu Yusuf Waziri adjourned the case to September 22 for continuation of hearing.