Ex-Abacha’s CSO, Al-Mustapha, denies looting Nigeria’s treasury

Tamarauemi Ebimini

Hamza Al-Mustapha, the presidential candidate of Action Alliance (AA) and former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late military head of state, Sani Abacha, has denied ever stealing from Nigeria’s coffers while in office.

Mr Mustapha, a retired major, said this in an interview with Channels Television on Tuesday.

He said his enemies, whom he did not name, were responsible for his 15 years of travails because they were hellbent on looting the country’s resources.

His principal, Mr Abacha, who died in office on 8 June 1998, looted the nation’s treasury and some of the funds are still being repatriated from the countries they were lodged.

In his defence on Tuesday, Mr Al-Mustapha said his innocence in the death of Mr Abiola and other allegations has been proven before 14 judges in the last 15 years.

Stating that he was a victim of media propaganda, the AA presidential hopeful said he never stole money from the government’s coffers.

He said he dared both the Abdulsalam Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo’s governments to indict him if they found him guilty of any financial crimes in the past.