The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an application by Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to the late military ruler, General Sani Abacha, seeking additional time to challenge a judgment over an Asokoro property.
The three-member panel, in a unanimous ruling delivered on Monday, September 14, 2026, also ordered Al-Mustapha to pay N1 million in costs to Al-Nuri Properties Limited, the respondent in the case.
The dispute centres on a property in the Asokoro District of Abuja which Al-Mustapha reportedly sold to Al-Nuri Properties for about N100 million.
According to court records, Al-Mustapha later sought to reclaim the property after its value increased, maintaining that the transaction was actually a loan and indicating his willingness to refund the money.
Al-Nuri Properties rejected the claim and instituted legal proceedings in March 2020 to establish its ownership of the property.
The FCT High Court sitting in Zuba subsequently entered a default judgment in favour of the company on June 16, 2023, after Al-Mustapha’s legal team failed to participate in the proceedings.
Rather than appeal the judgment within the prescribed period, Al-Mustapha returned to the same court in April 2024 and asked for the decision to be set aside.
The trial court, however, dismissed his application on September 24, 2025. By that point, the statutory deadline for appealing the original 2023 judgment had already expired.
Al-Mustapha subsequently approached the Court of Appeal, asking the appellate court to extend the time within which he could challenge the earlier judgment.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Okon Abang held that the former military officer failed to provide sufficient reasons for the delay.
The court noted that Al-Mustapha had failed to honour several hearing notices during the earlier proceedings. His explanation that his lawyers had abandoned the case was also rejected as inadequate.
Justice Abang described the situation as a case of “doing the right thing at the wrong time,” stressing that the appellant had not demonstrated the level of interest in the proceedings required to justify the court granting his request.
The panel also rejected the claim that Al-Mustapha’s right to fair hearing had been violated, holding that any disadvantage suffered during the proceedings was largely attributable to his own conduct.
The Court of Appeal consequently dismissed the application for lacking merit and ordered Al-Mustapha to pay N1 million to Al-Nuri Properties as costs.
The ruling effectively leaves the earlier judgment in favour of the property company undisturbed.
