One more appointee of President Muhammadu Buhari has drawn the attention of media – Colonel Hamid Ali (rtd). His biography has many interesting facts.
Colonel Hamid Ali (Rtd)
Hamid Ali was chosen by the Abacha regime as a member of the kangaroo tribunal that penalized famous environmentalist and minority rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa to death by hanging.
The new Comptroller-General of Customs, Colonel Ali was military administrator of Kaduna state from 1996 to 1998 under the dictatorial regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
Reacting to the cold-blooded murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni locals, Col Ali said he had no shames over his role in the judicial process that led to Saro Wiwa’s execution.
Oronto Douglas, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) and Sam Amadi during the trials of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others.
The Abacha government setup a special tribunal led by Justice Ibrahim Auta together with the Kaduna-based prosecutor—Joseph Bodunrin Daudu after incorrectly blaming Saro-Wiwa for orchestrating the death of four Ogoni elders.
Following long detention, abuse, torture and pressure of Wiwa’s counsels by the Abacha regime, the board sentenced Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists to death by hanging for a crime they never committed.
Saro-Wiwa was defended by the late human rights lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, and Femi Falana.
Fawehinmi and his team were rejected entry into the site of the tribunal’s actions and deprived of the rights to talk with the defendants. Auta left without all motions/application for continuances in a case engaging capital offenses.
The Abacha tenure quickly ratified the tribunal’s decision and afterwards murdered Saro-Wiwa and the eight activists before the period allowed for an appeal had elapsed.
The hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and four other Ogoni elders, led to Nigeria’s suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations, which lasted for over three years. Shell Petroleum Development Company later paid out $15.5 million as recompense over its role in cooperating with the Abacha administratin in human rights violations in the deaths of Saro-Wiwa and his kinsmen.
Vigil on the 17th anniversary of the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa and 4 other Ogoni elders.
Buhari served in the Abacha government as de factor petroleum minister in the role of Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund. Abacha’s despotic regime was also one of the most corrupt occasioned by brazen looting of the treasury.
Hamid Ali is 77-years-old Buhari’s newly appointed head of customs.
No comments:
Post a Comment