AL- MUSTAPHA, A LIAR, BLACKMAILER, SAY ADEBANJO, FALAE, FASORANTI, OTHERS

Former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late General Sani Abacha, Major Hamsat Al-Mustapha, yesterday has stirred the hornet's nest by mentioning names of two leading Yoruba leaders who are already late as beneficiaries of the Federal Government's largesse to scuttle the June 12, 1993 presidential poll struggle.

He mentioned Senator Abraham Adesanya, the leader of Afenifere and Chief Bola Ige (SAN), his deputy, both of blessed memory, as being among the leaders that allegedly collected money from the government to scuttle the release and restoration of the mandate given to the late Chief MKO Abiola.

Al-Mustapha mentioned the two names in the continuation of his defence over what transpired in the country during the June 12 struggle that led to the killing of several people and detention of the winner of the annulled election, Bashorun MKO Abiola who eventually died in detention in mysterious circumstance.

Earlier on Tuesday, when he alleged that some Yoruba leaders played the spoilers in Abiola's case, some Yoruba leaders rose in unison to challenge him to mention names.

Having done so yesterday, some leaders, who were close to both the late Adesanya and Ige did not only laugh it off, they described Al-Mustapha as a 'drowning man who wants to pull somebody along with him to the bottom of the ocean.

They, however, expressed disappointment that 'rather than mention living persons that can defend themselves, he resorted to blackmailing the dead who cannot rise to challenge him.'

The first child of Senator Adesanya, Adebayo described the allegation against his late father as 'false, laughable, ridiculous and difficult to believe,' wondering 'how could somebody Al-Mustapha sent a killer squad after go back to Aso Rock to request for money.'

His words: 'I know my father to be a straight forward, honest and credible person. His struggle to actualise Abiola' mandate nearly caused him his life. Yet, he never relented in his efforts to see that through. He never, and could have ever collected a dime from anybody to jettison and scuttle the cause in which he believed passionately.

'If he had collected money from them, it would have shown in his lifestyle. He never lived in affluence. He built all his houses, (two in Lagos and one in Ijebu-Igbo) in the sixties before he joined active politics through which he fought for the cause of common man.

'Hamzat Al-Mustapha is a drowning man, who wants to pull somebody along with him to the bottom of the ocean. My father was a contented human being and I wonder why Al-Mustapha is saying that now and not when Papa was alive. He is not serious.'

Also, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, one of the closest associates of the late Pa Adesanya and Chief Bola Ige,  condemned Al-Mustapha's allegation describing it as 'false and unfortunate.'

According to him, the allegation was not correct. Hear him: 'I don't believe him. May be he did not want to mention those people we suspect. Wasn't he the person that sent Sgt. Rogers to kill Pa Adesanya? He is a blackmailer and should not be taken serious because the persons he mentioned were known for probity, justice and accountability. They could not have had anything to do with their money.'

The present leader of Afenifere, Chief Rueben Fasoranti, also described the allegation as 'strange and difficult to believe,' saying 'I know Adesanya for what he was as a man that stood for the truth, probity, honesty and justice.'

Throughout his life, Fasoranti said, he never lived an affluence life. He lived as an ordinary man with concern for the masses, wondering why Al-Mustapha waited for about six years and more after the demise of these two respected leaders before attempting to discredit them when they could no longer stand up to him to challenge him and defend themselves.

The former secretary of Afenifere under the leadership of Adesanya and Ige as his deputy, Mr. Ayo Opadokun, dismissed the allegation with the wave of the hand, insisting that 'the fellow just want to ridicule these most respected people.'

Opadokun, who reminded that it was that fellow that co-ordinated the killing and detention of the people, asked him to mention 'at what period were these people collecting money, who were there to witness the transaction?'

To Opadokun, 'the fellow is a blackmailer, who just mentioned these names intentionally to cause crisis in Yorubaland,' adding that 'he has failed woefully.'

Also attesting to the impeccable characters of the leaders mentioned.

Former presidential candidate of the Alliance for Democrcy (AD), Chief Olu Falae regretted that 'they are conveniently dead and could not defend themselves, saying 'the duo were disciplined, honest, transparent and could not, for anything take blood money.'

According to Falae, it was because Adesanya refused the blood money that he was ambushed and shot at severally, stating that 'it is difficult to believe the allegation.'

He wondered how anybody could have the gut to approach them with such a proposal, reminding that 'they were six month in detention when they were framed as the killers of the late Kudirat Abiola.

The Personal Assistant to Pa Adesanya during the turbulent period, Reverend Adetona Adetunji Adebiyi, told Daily Sun that 'history has it that Abraham Adesanya was an incorruptible elder statesman who was contented with what he had.

As far back as early 60s, Adebiyi recounted that 'Papa has been a successful trader and businessman who was a self-made person, disclosing that 'he was one of the few members of the Western House that championed the cause of the common man.

According to him, the late Senator Adesanya was so contented that 'he would not have contested election if not prompted by the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.'

Adebiyi said: 'I could not see anything about Papa to show that he was a beneficiary of such a largesse,' just as he challenged the government to investigate the allegation with a view of bringing those who actually collected the blood money to book.