FIFTEEN years after the gruesome murder of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, Nigerians, including Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo; Senator Shehu Sani, wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, on Tuesday, were unanimous in their call on President Muhammadu Buhari to institute a fresh probe into the sad incident.
The call came as they gathered at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Lagos, to honour the late ‘Cicero’ of Esa Oke, at a symposium organised by the Bola Ige Centre for Justice.
Eminent personalities at the event, included Senator Shehu Sanni, who was chairman of the occasion; Festus Keyamo, Lateef Fagbemi, Muyiwa Ige, son of the late Ige; Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, Honourable Sanai Agunbiade, Majority Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly; Kunle Ajibade, Executive Editor, The News/PM News; Oba Rufus Olanrewaju, Kolawole Esan, Kunle Ige, Professor Tunde Adeniran, Adeola Rotinwa, who represented wife of the Lagos State governor, Bolanle Ambode and Playwright, Odia Ofeimum.
Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo, who spoke on the lecture, entitled: “Political killings and our criminal justice system in Nigeria: The impediments,” gave a vivid account of state’s complicity on the murder of the former Attorney General and called for a fresh probe into the matter, insisting that justice must be done at all cost.
This was just as Senator Sanni, who was chairman of the occasion, also admitted that there was the need for the government of Buhari to urgently open up fresh probe into the murder of Ige so that justice could be done.
“There is a strong evidence of state’s participation in the murder of Bola Ige based on the fact that the suspects were shielded and promoted,” he said, assuring that he would sponsor a motion on the floor of the Upper Chamber when the Senate resumed from recess to pressurise the government of Buhari to open fresh probe in the murder of Ige.
Keyamo, who was at the centre of the Ige murder story, narrated the incident that transpired immediately after Ige’s murder and how Olugbenga Adebayo alias Fryo, opened up on how the murder was planned, fingering Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was then the deputy governor of Osun State.
He said after two journalists brought Fryo to him, with all his confession documented, the police which had earlier declared him as wanted as the prime suspect, suddenly turned around to dispute his confession as the power that be covered up the story.
Keyamo insisted that state was culpable in the murder of Ige, saying that the former minister had, eight days earlier before he was assassinated, been assaulted publicly by Omisore at the Ooni’s palace.
“As a result of that, a red flag should have gone up in the security sector to protect him. The government of the day should have known and protected him. How can you have a Minister of Justice assaulted outside and nothing was done about it?,” Keyamo queried.
The Lagos lawyer, who expressed bitterness that he was accused by the police of tutoring Fryo what to say when the evidence were there to show that he was saying the right thing, recalled that earlier before Ige was murdered, Omisore and the rest had celebrated his humiliation at the Ooni’s palace in an hotel in Osun.
He added that instead of the police to act on Fryo’s evidence to nail the culprit in the murder, the police were struggling to disprove the confessional statement of Fryo because the statement he made were seen as unpalatable to the palace.
“The police were more interested in disproving Fryo’s statement. They arrested the two journalists who brought Fryo to my office and took them to Abuja and tried to make them counter the statement but they refused. I was also arrested and taken to Abuja where I was told that the suspect said he did not make such statement,” he explained.
Keyamo said it was the former Lagos Attorney General and now Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, who called for the file and took up the matter, pointing out that the matter was later referred to Oyo State where the incident happened.
He explained further that all through the period Lam Adeshina served as governor of Oyo State, the case went on, but said the case was buried immediately the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) took over the state.
“Till today, who has been charged to court on the assault on Ige and convicted?” he queried, adding that there was the need for the case to be re-opened.
Speaking, Senator Sanni, who also called on President Buhari-led government to urgently open up fresh probe into the murder of Ige so that justice could be done, noted that there was strong evidence of state’s participation in the said murder based on the fact that the suspects were shielded and promoted.
He stressed that Keyamo’s narration of the incident was a better evidence to open up fresh probe in the matter.
According to him, it was not too late for the government to institute fresh probe in the murder of Ige, declaring that “if we don’t do it, the spirit of Ige will continue to hunt this nation until justice is done.”
The senator assured that when the Senate was back from recess, he would sponsor a motion on the floor of the upper chamber to pressurise the government of Buhari to open fresh probe in the murder of Ige.
Speaking, the Majority Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Agunbiade, said it was clear that Ige was not murdered by ghost but human beings, lamenting that 15 years after, nothing had been done.
He, therefore, called for fresh investigation into the murder case.
Wife of the Lagos State governor, Bolanle Ambode, who was represented by Rotinwa, decried the tragic murder of Ige, calling on the government to ensure that the killers were prosecuted.
She said the non-arrest of the suspects had worsened the matter, saying that “we are still hoping that justice will be done.”
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