April 7, 2000
Paul Ejime
PANA Correspondent
LAGOS, Nigeria (PANA) - Sergeant Barnabas 'Rogers' Jabila, a self-confessed hitman of late Nigerian military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha, has continued to make headlines with startling revelations at the Lagos murder trial of senior Abacha regime officials.
Testifying as chief prosecution witness in the conspiracy and attempted murder trial of former army chief, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi and four others, Jabila told a jammed courtroom Thursday: "I had no motive to kill. I was only acting on instructions from my superiors."
He was cross-examined for more than 120 minutes by defence counsel before Justice Ade Alabi of the Lagos High Court adjourned hearing until 9 May.
Jabila, who had earlier told the court that he and his accomplices received instructions from Bamaiyi and Abacha's chief security of officer, Maj. Hamza al- Mustapha, on their missions to eliminate opponents of the regime, said that he was now a born-again Christian.
Virtually turning the courtroom into a church, the bearded hefty sergeant, described a born-again Christian as "somebody who has repented from evil, which includes arson and murder and accepts Jesus Christ as a personal Lord and Saviour."
Punctuating his statements with "praise the Lord," the judge at one stage warned Jabila not to bring religion into the trial.
Clad in bullet-proof jacket, Jabila, who claimed he had a lot to reveal, further informed the court that he was under protective custody, against possible reprisal attacks by those who could be hurt by his revelations.
Bamaiyi and the other four, who have all pleaded not guilty to the charge, are facing trial for the attempted murder in February 1999 of Alex Ibru, publisher of the Guardian newspaper, who had also served as interior minister under Abacha.
Mustapha is facing a separate trial along with Abacha's son Mohammed, for the alleged murder of Kudirat Abiola, wife of presidential claimant Moshood Abiola in June 1996.
Kudirat was killed while driving in Lagos, and her husband died in detention in June 1998.
Mustapha has also been arraigned for the murder, through lethal injection of Nigeria's former deputy military ruler, Maj.-Gen. Shehu Musa Ya'ardua, in 1997.
Jabila told the court that although he saw Abacha once during his rule until his death in June 1998, he took his orders from Mustapha.