Bola Ige’s murder: Soyinka expresses readiness to go to court to expose killers

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday, said he has resolved to approach the court in a legal battle to unravel the killers of a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.

Soyinka made this known at a media interaction in Lagos titled: “Forget the past, forfeit the future: A nation seceding from humanity,” in apparent reaction to the reply made to his earlier concern he expressed over the emergence of former Osun State deputy governor, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, who was the prime suspect in the murder of Chief Ige as the National Secretary of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

Omisore had in his reply, told the playwright to ask his cousin, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who killed the former minister, who was also a former governor of old Oyo State, even as he hinted in the statement that he had instructed his lawyer to write Prof. Soyinka, demanding a retraction of the comments.

Ige was assassinated by suspected gunmen at his Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State, home on December 23, 2001.

The playwright had on Saturday, in a statement said the resumption of an investigation into Ige’s murder was already hamstrung and disrobed of credibility with the emergence of Omisore as one of the APC key officers at the recently held national convention of the party in Abuja, the country’s capital city.

The Nobel Laureate, who decried the rising insecurity in the country leading to killings, kidnappings and violence in several states, sadly recalled that Omisore decapped a respected minister and threw the cap to thugs, noting that such action led to other actions.

Soyinka posited that such a person should be made an envoy if the ruling APC desired to give him a post but not make him its national scribe.

“We are talking of the party of those in charge of the governance and justice of this country. The leadership of APC and I are not talking of Buhari alone, do you have to unleash scorpions on our memory?” he queried.

“It is not Soyinka who provided this. It’s those who were so insensitive, who rubbed that murder in our faces. I will be delighted to go to court so that we can go into details. I ask the APC leadership to have a rethink because the issue will not go away,” he said.

Lagos lawyer, Chief Femi Falana (SAN), in his reaction, insisted that the killers of Chief Ige must be fished out, saying that Soyinka had reminded President Muhammadu Buhari of his pledge to open an enquiry into the country’s spate of political murders.

This was just as he assured the Nobel Laureate of free legal service if he was sued “because you are taking on a public issue.”

“If you are sued, we will represent you free of charge because you are taking on a public issue,” Falana said.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report… Bola Ige’s murder: Soyinka expresses readiness to go to court to expose killers

[ICYMI] Lekki Shootings: Why We Lied About Our Presence — General Taiwo

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the killings at Lekki Toll Gate, on Saturday resumed viewing of the 24hrs footage of the October 20, 2020 shooting of #EndSARS protesters by personnel of the Nigerian Army…

ICYMI: How We Carried Out The 1993 Nigerian Airways Hijack —Ogunderu

On Monday, October 25, 1993, in the heat of June 12 annulment agitations, four Nigerian youngsters, Richard Ajibola Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Razak-Lawal, did the unthinkable! They hijacked an Abuja-bound aircraft, the Nigerian Airways airbus A310, and diverted it to Niger Republic. How did they so it? Excerpts…

ICYMI: What North Will Not Accept About 2023 Presidency —Prof Mahuta, UDU Don And Kebbi Dev Foundation Chairman

Bola Ige’s murder: Soyinka expresses readiness to go to court to expose killers