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How and Why Kudirat Abiola Was Brutally Assassinated in 1996

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Alhaja Kudirat Abiola

Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, a politically and socially active woman during her days, was the beautiful wife of late business mogul and respected politician, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. Her struggles, efforts and the tireless support she gave her husband, M.K.O Abiola, when he was incarcerated led to her untimely death.

On the 4th of June, 1996, Kudirat Abiola was assassinated by some gunmen in Lagos who allegedly acted on the orders of the Sani Abacha’s military junta…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

Background

After President Ibrahim Babangida annulled the June 12, 1993 election which had M.K.O Abiola as the winner, several riots ensued across the country, especially in the southwest. This led to the demise of President Babangida’s military regime and the birth of the Shonekan-led Interim National Government on the 26th of August, 1993

Before Babangida stepped down from power, he set up an Interim Government which was to oversee the transition of power to a democratically elected government. M.K.O Abiola did not support the Interim Government as it had no plan of restoring him as the president of Nigeria. The Interim National Government was later sacked by Gen. Sani Abacha in November 1993.

At first, M.K.O Abiola supported Sani Abacha’s military regime hoping Abacha would return the mandate to him, but when the Abacha refused to do so, M.K.O Abiola went ahead to declare himself as the President on the 11th of June, 1994. Twelve days later, he was arrested and charged with treasonable felony.

Kudirat Abiola spearheaded oil workers’ strike against the government which lasted 12 months. She also gathered market women, students and civil servants to fight for their electoral right which was denied on June 12, 1993. Her efforts to get her husband out of jail and restore his mandate brought her across the line of Abacha’s military government. Unknowing to Kudirat Abiola, she had been marked for assassination by an unknown cabal.

The car in which Kudirat Abiola was assassinated
The car in which Kudirat Abiola was assassinated

Kudirat Abiola’s Assassination

On the 4th of June, 1996, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola was in a white Mercedes Benz driven by her driver, Dauda Atanda, and accompanied by her special assistant, Lateef Shofolahan. It was around 9.30 am on the streets of Lagos, she was going for an appointment at the Canadian High Commission.

As her car slowed down on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway past the 7-Up bus stop on Oregun Road in Ikeja, two cars double-crossed them and six heavily armed men opened fire on Kudirat Abiola’s car. The gunmen shot at close range and Kudirat’s driver got his mouth and shoulder pierced by a bullet while Kudirat, their main target, was hit in the forehead and instantly lost consciousness.

She was rushed to the Eko Hospital on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way in Ikeja, Lagos where she eventually died between 12.15 and 12.30 pm. However, Kudirat’s personal assistant, Lateef Shofolahan, escaped the attack unhurt. He was later accused of being involved in the murder plot of Kudirat Abiola. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

OldNaija gathered that prior to Alhaja Kudirat Abiola’s murder, there were two attempts to take her life before the plotters allegedly penetrated her network through Lateef Shofolahan.

Major Hamza al-Mustapha
Major Hamza al-Mustapha freed from prison

Aftermath

The Abacha military government offered the sum of $45,000 to anyone who could give information leading to the arrest of the assassins. Later, Hamza Al-Mustapha, the chief security officer of General Sani Abacha, was accused and convicted. Investigations into the killing traced the killers’ bullets to his (Hamza Al-Mustapha) personal armoury.

In October 1988, Hamza Al-Mustapha and Mohammed Abacha, Gen. Abacha’s son, appeared before the court, both charged with the death of Kudirat Abiola. In the court, Mohammed Abdul, one of the assassins, narrated how the Abiola’s network was penetrated through Lateef Shofolahan, and how Mohammed Abacha gave him and other gunmen $10,000 to flee the country when Obasanjo’s government began an investigation on Kudirat Abiola’s assassination.

He said,

“I was then given a car key to a 504 saloon car. Sumaila Shuaibu was driving the 505 car while I drove the 504. We went to the National Theatre where we met Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan (Kudirat Abiola’s P.A) who took us to Festac town where he pointed at one house. From there, we went to Surulere and then to Mr James Danbaba’s house.

Rabo Lawal asked the security men if the CP was in before he went inside and spent some time there. We then went back to Dodan Barracks. In the evening Alhaji Lateef came to meet us at Dodan Barracks and together we went to Victoria Island where Alhaji Lateef pointed a house to Rabo Lawal who was in the same car with him. From V.I. we went to Surulere and then to Igbosere Road. Alhaji Lateef then went inside one storey building on a street near Igbosere close to Sura market”.

Barnabas Jabila’s confession

OldNaija gathered that another member of the killer squad, Barnabas Jabila aka Seargent Rogers, confessed that he was acting on the orders of Hamza Al-Mustapha and that he (Hamza Al-Mustapha) gave the contract to kill Kudirat Abiola to Rabo Lawal, the head of the mobile police force at the presidential villa. He also said that they were provided weapons for the operation in the presence of Mohammed Abacha.

Mohammed Abacha
Mohammed Abacha

In May 2001, a Federal High Court in Abuja freed Mohammed Abacha on the ground that he was simply roped in on circumstantial evidence. Also, Hamza Al-Mustapha and Lateef Shofolahan who were sentenced to death by hanging on January 30 2012 were later freed on Friday, July 12, 2013, on the ground that there was not enough evidence to prove them guilty.

 

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Guy Fawkes’ punishment was one of the most severe in English history – here’s what happens when a body is hung, drawn and quartered

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Fawkes and his co-conspirators were sentenced to hanging, drawing and quartering. Crispijn van de Passe the Elder/ Wikimedia Commons

After their infamous plot to destroy parliament was foiled, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators received one of the most severe judicial sentences in English history: hanging, drawing and quartering. According to the Treason Act 1351 , this punishment involved…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

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  • Michelle SpearProfessor of Anatomy, University of Bristol

That you be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, where you shall be hanged by the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.

This process aimed not only to inflict excruciating pain on the condemned, but to serve as a deterrent – demonstrating the fate of those who betrayed the Crown. While Fawkes reportedly jumped from the gallows – which meant he avoided the full extent of his punishment – his co-conspirators apparently weren’t so lucky.

By dissecting each stage of this medieval punishment from an anatomical perspective, we can understand the profound agony each of them endured.

Torture for confession

Before his public execution on January 31 1606, Fawkes was tortured to force a confession about his involvement in the “gunpowder plot”.

The Tower of London records confirm that King James I personally authorised “the gentler tortures first”. Accounts reveal that Fawkes was stretched on the rack – a device designed to slowly pull the limbs in opposite directions. This stretching inflicted severe trauma on the shoulders, elbows and hips, as well as the spine.

The forces exerted by the rack probably exceeded those required for joint or hip dislocation under normal conditions.

Substantive differences between Fawkes’ signatures on confessions between November 8 and shortly before his execution may indicate the amount of nerve and soft tissue damage sustained. It also illustrates how remarkable his final leap from the gallows was.

An engraving depicting a person being tortured on the rack.
The rack slowly pulled a prisoner’s limbs in opposite directions. Wellcome Collection/ Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA

Stage 1: hanging (partial strangulation)

After surviving the torture of the rack, Fawkes and his gang faced the next stage of their punishment: hanging. But this form of hanging only partially strangled the condemned – preserving their consciousness and prolonging their suffering.

Partial strangulation exerts extreme pressure on several critical neck structures. The hyoid bone , a small u-shaped structure above the larynx, is prone to bruising or fracture under compression .

Simultaneously, pressure on the carotid arteries restricts blood flow to the brain, while compression of the jugular veins causes pooling of blood in the head – probably resulting in visible haemorrhages in the eyes and face.

Because the larynx and trachea (both essential for airflow) are partially obstructed, this makes breathing laboured. Strain on the cervical spine and surrounding muscles in the neck can lead to tearing, muscle spasms or dislocation of the vertebra – causing severe pain. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

Fawkes brought his agony to a premature end by leaping from the gallows. Accounts from the time tell us:

His body being weak with the torture and sickness, he was scarce able to go up the ladder – yet with much ado, by the help of the hangman, went high enough to break his neck by the fall.

This probably caused him to suffer a bilateral fracture of his second cervical vertebra, assisted by his own bodyweight – an injury known as the “hangman’s fracture” .

Stage 2: Drawing (disembowelment)

After enduring partial hanging, the victim would then be “drawn” – a process which involved disembowelling them while still alive. This act mainly targeted the organs of the abdominal cavity – including the intestines, liver and kidney, as well as major blood vessels such as the abdominal aorta.

The physiological response to disembowelment would have been immediate and severe. The abdominal cavity possesses a high concentration of pain receptors – particularly around the membranous lining of the abdomen . When punctured, these pain receptors would have sent intense pain signals to the brain, overwhelming the body’s capacity for pain management . Shock would soon follow due to the rapid drop in blood pressure caused by massive amounts of blood loss.

Stage 3: quartering (dismemberment)

Quartering was also supposed to be performed while the victim was still alive. Though no accounts exist detailing at what phase victims typically lost consciousness during execution, it’s highly unlikely many survived the shock of being drawn.

So, at this stage, publicity superseded punishment given the victim’s likely earlier demise. Limbs that were removed from criminals were preserved by boiling them with spices. These were then toured around the country to act as a deterrent for others.

Though accounts suggest Fawkes’s body parts were sent to “the four corners of the United Kingdom”, there is no specific record of what was sent where. However, his head was displayed in London .

Traitor’s punishment

The punishment of hanging, drawing and quartering was designed to be as anatomically devastating as it was psychologically terrifying. Each stage of the process exploited the vulnerabilities of the human body to create maximum pain and suffering, while also serving as a grim reminder of the consequences of treason.

This punishment also gives us an insight into how medieval justice systems used the body as a canvas for social and political messaging. Fawkes’s fate, though unimaginable today, exemplifies the extremes to which the state could, and would, go to maintain control, power and authority over its subjects.

The sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering was officially removed from English law as part of the Forfeiture Act of 1870 .

 

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OPINION: 4 Children Who Were Sentenced to life imprisonment At A Young Age And what They Did

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There are many unusual things happening across the world. Children are charming and lovely, yet others are really dangerous and have been involved in a variety of illegal activities in society.

In this post, we’ll look at four children who were condemned to life in jail Please keep in mind that some of these children are now adults…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

1. Joshua Phillips:

Joshua Phillips stabbed his neighbor’s eight-year-old daughter and put the girl’s body under his bed at home. After eight days, his mother discovered the body.

Joshua Phillips was fourteen years old when he committed this act, according to reports, and he was sentenced to life in jail.

Take a look at how Joshua Phillips is now.

2. Eric Smith:

Eric Smith, according to sources, was condemned to life in jail many years ago. Eric Smith was just 13 years old when he hit a 4-year-old boy with a rock and killed him.

Following multiple conversations with Eric, he stated that he was bullied by several senior kids at his school and that he killed the youngster because he was irritated and upset. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

3. Lionel Tate:

Lionel Tate was one of the youngest people to get a life sentence.

According to sources, when he was 13 years old, Lionel Tate killed his neighbor’s six-year-old daughter.

Lionel Tate claimed he was boxing with the young girl.

4. Brian Lee Draper:

Brian Lee Draper was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for murdering a classmate, according to reports.

The murder was committed by Brian Lee Draper and his friend Torey Adamcik, who was sixteen years old at the time.

Parents should always endeavor to teach their children how to be good children, as well as pray for them.

 

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Lady Caught Feeding Neighbor’s Baby With Faeces & Urine Speaks From Prison, Gives This Ugly Reason

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A woman named Stella Namwanje was arrested in Uganda for allegedly committing an atrocious act against her neighbor’s baby. Reports indicate that she was caught on video defecating and urinating on the infant before feeding him the waste. This shocking behavior has drawn widespread condemnation and raised serious concerns about the child’s welfare…Click Here To Continue Reading>> …Click Here To Continue Reading>>

 

The incident took place in the Binyonyi A area of the Nyendo-Mukungwe division. Local authorities acted swiftly after the disturbing footage circulated on social media, prompting community outrage. The police have since taken Namwanje into custody to investigate the circumstances surrounding her actions and ensure the safety of the child.

The case has sparked discussions about the need for stronger measures to protect vulnerable individuals, especially children, from abuse. It highlights the alarming reality of child torture and the psychological issues that may drive such behavior. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

As the investigation unfolds, the community is rallying to support the affected family and prevent similar incidents in the future. The legal proceedings against Namwanje will likely focus on the extent of her actions and the necessary repercussions for such a heinous crime.

 

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