I have nothing to do with training snipers for President Jonathan, says Al-Mustapha

The former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, Sani Abacha, Hamza Al-Mustapha, has challenged former president Olusegun Obasanjo to an open debate, the Channels Television News reports.

In his reaction to Obasanjo's letter to President Goodluck Jonathan in which he alleged that he (Al-Mustapha) was released from prison to help the president train snipers to assassinate political opponents, the former Aide de Camp (ADC) to late General Sanni Abacha  challenged the ex-president to a public debate on the allegations.

Al-Mustapha was e speaking to the Hausa Service of the Voice of America (VOA), which was monitored in Abuja on Wednesday.

While admitting that Obasanjo did not mention his name in the controversial open letter, he said that he knew the former president's assertions were about him.

He expressed disappointment at the former president's approach: 'If he has anything to say on me, he should mention me directly or even challenge me and not make allusions.'

Al-Mustapha vehemently denied the allegations supposedly made by Obasanjo, claiming that training assassins to hunt the president's political opponents contradicts his known passion for supporting people from Northern Nigeria especially within the military.

He said: 'I read Obasanjo's letter and subsequent comments by Nigerians, I would have responded immediately, but I was away in India receiving treatment.

'Perhaps it is Obasanjo and his cronies that are planning what he was insinuating.'

Al-Mustapha also said: 'From 1974 to the present, a lot of things are buried with all sorts of lies, but all would be revealed one day.

'I urge everyone to pray for Obasanjo to accept my challenge for a public debate so that the truth will come out,' he said.