Abuja — The presidency has directed the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to liaise with the Lagos State government to look at the legal implications of the long standing trial of Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former chief security officer (CSO) to former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha, to ensure that justice is done to both victims and the accused.

A source in the presidency told LEADERSHIP last night that the directive was based on a report recently submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan by a team of senior lawyers advising the president to ensure that justice is done to the former CSO, who has been standing trial since 1999 over the alleged killing of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola and attempted murder of the publisher of The Guardian, Olorogun Alex Ibru.

The report claims that the foot-dragging over the trial of Mustapha amounted to justice denied. It said the only way the government could ensure fairness and justice in the murder case was to ensure that one party did not suffer injustice.

The report further advised that there is urgent need to advise the Lagos State government, the prosecutor to discontinue the case if it does not have sufficient evidence to prosecute the matter.

"Since the presidency cannot directly ask the Lagos State government to discontinue the case, it can only advise. And the minister of justice has been advised to liaise with the Lagos State government," the source added.

A coalition of ethnic nationalities in the country recently called for an unconditional release of Major Al-Mustapha.

Speaking at a joint news conference addressed by the founder of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), Dr. Fredrick Fasehun; the leaders of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Shettima Yerima; the Niger-Delta Volunteers Force (NDVF), Alhaji Dokubo Asari; and the Igbo Youth Congress (IYC), Comrade Bright Ezeocha , the leaders said the prolonged detention of Al-Mustapha was an injustice.

They called on Jonathan to invoke the prerogative of mercy clause in the constitution to grant amnesty and liberty to him and those detained with him.

According to the coalition, the 12 years Mustapha has spent in detention, represent 18 years in the normal prison calendar, making him the longest serving solitary detainee in the nation's history. His useful years, they said, were being frittered away.

The leaders spoke at Fasehun's Century Hotel, Okota, Lagos, recently. Over 500 members of the ethnic militia groups were at the occasion.

Addressing reporters on behalf of the group, Fasehun condemned everything the successive governments had done in Al-Mustapha's case. He said the government's position contradicts the nation's position as a signatory to the United Nation, Commonwealth, African and West African Charters, Conventions and Resolutions on Human Rights, Torture, Detention and Imprisonment.

The injustice of Major Al-Mustapha's detention, Fasehun said, had become a source of disgrace to millions of Nigerians at home and abroad. He said the issue had become an international embarrassment and disgrace to Nigerians and the nation's judicial systems.

He added: "More embarrassing is the fact that all the witnesses that the state has pushed forward in the court of law had by and large debunked the allegations leveled against these gentlemen.

"Time has come to terminate this national disgrace and lunacy. We hereby appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to wade into this matter in the name of all that is good.

"We pray Mr. President to invoke the prerogative of mercy clause in the constitution and grant amnesty and liberty to Major Al-Mustapha and the prisoners of conscience detained with him."

In his own remark, the NDVF leader, Alhaji Dokubo said enough was enough of Major Al-Mustapha's incarceration and called on the Federal Government to set him free.

Yerima and other speakers also urged President Jonathan to set Al-Mustapha free in the interest of justice.

Setting Al-Mustapha free, Ezeocha said, would wipe away the nation's 12 years shame and make Nigerians to begin to feel that the country had started practising genuine democracy.

Al-Mustapha was arrested in 1998, immediately after the death of General Abacha. He was under military detention until the Lagos State government instituted murder charges against him in 1999.