It is not likely that a cross-section of Nigerians has forgotten the face and name of Barnabas Mshelia Jabila, the acquitted, self-confessed killer of Kudirat Abiola, wife of he presumptive winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Chief MKO Abiola. Sergeant Rogers, as he was more popularly known, was a member of the deadly Strike Force; a specially trained military squad used by Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha, then Chief Security Officer to late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, to protect the despot.
Because of his confessions to the June 1996 assassination of Mrs Abiola among other crimes perpetrated during the Abacha regime, he became the prosecution witness during the trial of Al Mustapha and the other accused. Since his own release, Sgt. Rogers has been virtually anonymous, leading a very quiet life in Abuja. However, a recent accident along the Jos – Abuja expressway, which almost snuffed the life out of the heavily bearded sharp shooter, has now confined him to the wheelchair. Sgt. Rogers was taken round hospitals in Abuja for treatment but at the end of the day, he has had to live with the reality that he would be paralysed forever. Things are reportedly so bad for him that he now depends on people for survival.