NORTHERN MONARCHS DENY MEETING OVER AL-MUSTAPHA

By Henry Umoru
ABUJA-NORTHERN emirs and chiefs, Thursday, explained that the meeting held in Kaduna was to discuss more pressing issues affecting the North, and not to take a position on the conviction of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer, CSO, to late Gen. Sani Abacha, by the Lagos High Court.

Emir of Kazaure, Dr. Najib Hussaini Adamu, described insinuations that they met because of Al-Mustapha as 'crude, false and uncharitable.'

Confirming that they met in Kaduna, Adamu, in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, explained that the meeting had nothing to do with the conviction of Major Al-Mustapha by a Lagos High Court.

He said: 'We had the serious business of studying a document prepared by a committee of 10, to advise our Northern state governors on how to prevent these frequent and disturbing crises in the North.

'In the first instance, this meeting was called 10 days before the judgment was given. The day the court convicted him was the day of the arrival of the Emirs and Chiefs. How could the issue be on our agenda?'

Adamu, who is also a lawyer, noted that the matter of Al-Mustapha was subjudice and could not have been a subject of discussion by the monarchs, adding that 'nobody, not even the President, can meddle in that case now because it is before the court. Nobody can touch it unless it is over.'

The emir called on members of the public to discountenance any such reports associating the Kaduna meeting with the convictions of Al-Mustapha.