THE HITMAN WHO CONFESSED…. THEN LEFT NIGERIANS WONDERING WHAT THE TRUTH REALLY WAS WHEN HE DENIED IT

THE HITMAN WHO CONFESSED…. THEN LEFT NIGERIANS WONDERING WHAT THE TRUTH REALLY WAS WHEN HE DENIED IT

THE HITMAN WHO CONFESSED…. THEN LEFT NIGERIANS WONDERING WHAT THE TRUTH REALLY WAS WHEN HE DENIED IT

In December 2000…

A man walked into Nigeria’s Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission.

Better known as the Oputa Panel.

He wasn’t a politician.

He wasn’t a judge.

He wasn’t a lawyer.

He was a soldier.

Sergeant Barnabas Jabila.

Better known across Nigeria as…

Sergeant Rogers.

Then…

He made a confession that shocked the entire country.

According to his testimony…

He was the man who pulled the trigger that killed Kudirat Abiola.

He told the panel he acted on orders from his commander.

Major Hamza Al-Mustapha.

Rogers claimed the weapon had been supplied through Al-Mustapha’s office.

He also named other prominent Nigerians he said had been marked for assassination.

Including newspaper publisher Alex Ibru.

And politician Abraham Adesanya.

Perhaps the most chilling part of his testimony…

Wasn’t that he admitted killing.

It was why.

He said he believed he was defending Nigeria from people he thought wanted to destroy the country.

To him…

He wasn’t a murderer.

He believed he was carrying out his duty.

For years…

Many Nigerians believed the mystery had finally been solved.

Then…

Everything changed.

Nearly a decade later…

While testifying during Al-Mustapha’s murder trial…

Rogers withdrew key parts of his earlier confession.

He claimed his Oputa Panel testimony had been false.

According to him…

He had been pressured into making it.

Suddenly…

The confession that had shaken Nigeria was itself under question.

Which version was true?

The first…

Or the second?

The uncertainty only deepened when Al-Mustapha consistently denied ordering the killing.

Although he was convicted by a Lagos High Court in 2012…

The Court of Appeal overturned that conviction in 2013, citing insufficient evidence.

Years later…

Al-Mustapha also alleged that political figures had influenced Rogers’ testimony.

Those allegations have never been proven in court.

Rogers himself largely disappeared from public life.

Some media reports later said he had become a pastor.

But he never publicly gave Nigerians a final explanation for his conflicting stories.

And so…

One of the most famous confessions in Nigeria’s history…

Remains one of its most controversial.

Did Sergeant Rogers tell the truth the first time…

Or the second?

Only he knew.

And he left Nigeria still searching for the answer.

What do you think—was his first confession the truth, or did he later reveal the real story?