Full Name: Hamza Al-Mustapha
Date of Birth: 27 July 1960.
Nationality: Nigerian
Marriage status: Married.
Spouse(s): Hajiya Hafsa Al-Mustapha
Alma mater: Nigerian Defence Academy.
Occupation: Retired Military officer
Rank: Major.
Political party: Action Alliance (AA).
Hamza Al-Mustapha (born 27 July 1960) is a former Nigerian Army major and intelligence officer who served as Chief Security Officer to General Sani Abacha, who was Nigeria’s military head of state from 1993 until his sudden death on June 8, 1998.
l-Mustapha was trained as a military intelligence operative. He held various command posts in the Security Group of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (SG-DMI), 82 Division and Army Headquarters and the Ministry of Defence, among others.
Military career
From August 1985 to August 1990, Al-Mustapha was [Aide-de-camp] (ADC) (but recently clarified in an open television interview with Channels Television’s Seun Okinbaloye that he wasn’t ADC that he was the Chief Security Officer) to [Chief of Army Staff (Nigeria)|Chief of Army Staff], General [Sani Abacha]. Both his principal and head of state, General [Ibrahim Babangida] had absolute confidence in his abilities, and entrusted him with exceptional powers, considerably greater than other officers who were nominally his superior. This further projected him as a strongman of the military hierarchy.
Military intelligence
Al-Mustapha was trained as a military intelligence operative. He held various command posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Security Group of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (SG-DMI), 82 Division and Army Headquarters; Ministry of Defence and The Presidency.
He was also involved in counter-intelligence activities and at least two investigations of coup attempts; which brought him to the attention of General Sani Abacha. He also conducted operations in Chad, Liberia, Bakassi, Gambia and Sierra Leone.
Political Career
Founder of GPN
Al-Mustapha relocated to Kano after his release before joining politics in 2017 when he founded the Green Party of Nigeria (GPN).
Joins PPN
In 2019, he emerged as the presidential candidate of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) but couldn’t make much impact at the election.
AA presidential candidate
On June 8 Al-Mustapha clinched the Action Alliance (AA) presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections.
He scored 506 votes to beat his only opponent, Chief Samson Odupitan, who polled 216 votes at the party’s primaries in Abuja.
Four aspirants began the contest, but two of them, Mr Tunde Kelani and Chief Osakwe Johnson, stepped down for Al-Mustapha shortly before the election, which was conducted using the option A4 formula.