|
|
Nigeria: Witness Gives Graphic Details of Attempt On Adesanya's Life
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
This Day (Lagos)
15 May 2008
Posted to the web 15 May 2008
Davidson Iriekpen
Lagos
Mohammed Abdul, a.k.a Katako,Former driver to Mohammed Abacha, son of late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, before a Lagos High Court, yesterday made more revealations on how the regime of the late dictator attempted to snuff life out of the late Afenifere leader, Senator Abraham Adesanya in 1997.
Abdul told the court that he drove a 504 Peugeot car, while Sergeant Barnabas Jabila, alias Rogers, shot at Adesanya's car in the assassinated attempt on Adesanya's life.
Katako, who was led in evidence by the Lagos Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mrs O. Ogungbesan, at the resumed hearing in the trial of Aminu Mohammed and Lateef Sofolahan on charge of attempted murder of Adesanya, however, said during cross-examination, that the accused persons never met with each other to plot the assassination of Adesanya.
He also said that even though he drove Rogers when Adesanya was shot at, that it did not in any way suggest that he conspired with anybody to kill Adesanya, as he drove Rogers the said day, not knowing what he was up to.
Katako had in his evidence in chief said, "I was in Abuja in 1997, staying in Aso Rock Villa, where I worked in House 8, residence of son to late Head of State, Alhaji Mohammed Abacha as his driver.
"One of the days, Rogers came with Aminu Mohammed and late Samaila Shuaib. Rogers told me we were going to Lagos, I told him he should tell my Oga, which he did. I confirmed from my Oga, who said I should go with them".
According to him, "when we got to Lagos , we went to Alhaji Lateef's house and Rogers went in and we left afterwards. When we left Lafeef's house, we went to Igbosere ( Lagos ), the four of us (Katako, Roggers, Aminu Mohammed and late Shuaib). We had been to Igbosere before but that time, more than four us had gone. Three days later, myself, Rogers and Animu went to the same Igbosere along Sura Market, by one petrol station. There was a Mercedes Benz 200 or 230 that was parked outside before a one storey building and Rogers said, I should park by the other side of the road, by the petrol station".
Continuing, he said, "we waited, then someone came out of the office and entered the Mercedes car and when the car started moving, Rogers said I should follow the car. The person that came out of the office was an elderly man. It was later I got to know who the person was".
"I followed the car and after Sura market, there is a junction, the car took straight, going to Osborne, while I took right, the road going to Obalende. Rogers was sitting in the front with me, while Aminu sat at the back. Rogers came out from the window of the car and started shooting at the Mercedes car".
He explained that Rogers as a Strike Force member carried arm, while Aminu as a bodyguard also carried arm, adding "Rogers shot at the car and afterwards, he came back inside the car and sat down and said I should drive to Doddan Barracks.
Later that evening, Rogers bought an evening paper and the news was on the paper that Abraham Adesanya was shot at in that Sura market, that was how I knew that the person in that car was Abraham Adesanya".
Asked what happened afterwards, he said "after that, we stayed in Lagos for some days and went back to Abuja.
Asked if he could remember what happened in 1999, he responded "that was when I was arrested. I was working at Doddan Barracks, when I was arrested because when I passed out from the Nigerian Army Training School, Zaria, I was posted to 5AD, Ikeja and signal was sent to my unit that I should report at State House Annex, Doddan Barracks. I was working there from 1998 to 1999 when I was arrested".
Asked if he had met with Aminu on any other occasion, he responded "after 1997 when we came with Rogers, there was a time my former boss asked me to call all those that took part in the Lagos assignment, so that he will give us money to leave the country".
He said that his former boss, Alhaji Abacha had given them $10,000 to leave the country, saying that people have started talking about the event and that they collected the money and went to Niger Republic, where they spent three days and came back.
Answering questions during cross examination by Aminu's counsel, Mr James Ocheli (SAN), Tatako said that when he drove Rogers to Lateef's house, that he packed outside and did not know or hear what Rogers discusses with Lateef. He admitted that he did not ask from Rogers what he discussed with Lateef.
|
Responding still under cross examination, he said "I did not plan or conspire to commit any offence with anybody. The first accused person did not meet with the second accused person to commit any crime".
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
