What would have happened if Bola Ige was still alive - Fagbemi reveals

What would have happened if Bola Ige was still alive - Fagbemi reveals

- Nigeria has witnessed several political killings since the emergence of the current political dispensation in 1999 and the chief among those gruesome murders, was the assassination of the the former Attorney General of Federation, Chief Bola Ige in his Bodija residence, Ibadan on 23rd of December, 2001

- Since his killing by suspected political hired assassins, the successive governments have failed to unraveled the misery behind the killing

- But Buhari recently said that all the cases of political killing since 1999 will be revisited to ensure sinners do not go unpunished

- A senior advocate of Nigeria, therefore, calls on the federal government to bring the killers to book

A Senior Advocate of Nigerian (SAN), Lateef Fagbemi, has urged the Federal Government to bring killers of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige to justice.

Late Bola Ige

Delivering the 2016 Bola Ige Memorial Symposium in Lagos, Fagbemi, expressed regret that politics had become a harbinger of sorrow, pain and unwarranted deaths.

“Politicians have over the years cultivated the habit of settling political scores by resorting to political assassination,” he added.

In his lecture titled: “Political Killings and Our Criminal Justice System: The Impediments”, Fagbemi said Nigeria had its unfortunate share of such killings.

READ ALSO: We didn’t kill Bola Ige- Oyediran

He said: “Chief James Ajibola Idowu Adegoke Ige, SAN was, no doubt, a political colossus, whose reputation and personality have remained engraved in the political psyche of Nigerians, since he burst into the political scene a few years before independence. To me, ‘Uncle Bola’, as we fondly called him was a perfect blend of the sagacity of Chief Obafemi Awolowo; the oratory prowess of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe and the selflessness of Sir Ahmadu Bello.

“Little wonder that his death was one of the reasons the central government of the PDP rode roughshod of almost the entire South Western Nigeria, excluding Lagos, in the 2003 general elections.

READ ALSO: How former IGP Arase, others frustrated my father’s murder trial – Bola Ige’s son

“ It is a truism that it would have been impossible for the PDP to win all the south-western state of Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo if Uncle Bola were to be alive. His death was indeed a killer arrow delivered right into the heart of the AD (Alliance for Democracy). The party never recovered from that great loss ever since,” he said

Fagbemi added “It is instructive to state that before the assassination of Chief Ige, Nigeria had, around those periods, witnessed a series of politics-related killings, which the nation was by then already drenched in blood of the innocents. It was as if a new chapter of political murders was equally opened to go with the advent of the 4th Republic.

“Prominent political figures and actors were gunned down in their prime. It needs be said that political killings was/is not peculiar to Nigeria; what however, marked out Nigeria is the fact that the murderers are hardly found. The more the killings, the easier it was for the perpetrators to walk away freely. The assassination of Chief Ige represents the height of insensitivity of the powers-that-be to tackle the recurring monster that had bedeviled our political landscape. One can only hope that foray like this will help to continuously sensitize the government that the security of lives is the primary responsibility of any serious government.”

READ ALSO: Bola Ige’s death is a waste, says daughter Funso Adegbola

He maintained that while it was relatively easy to bring the perpetrators of military coups to book, it was not that easy to find out and nail the culprits of several other political killings that occurred subsequently, among politicians.

“Our government must give the security forces free hand to operate and investigate such killings. Paying mere lip service to such issue is also not the way to go.”

Proffering a way forward, Fagbemi said: “detection and resolution of political killing is a task for all. We must all be security conscious at all times. We must promptly provide vital information to the Police whenever we suspect any foul play. Similarly, we should all imbibe the culture of protecting the sanctity of crime scenes.

“A situation where the government of the day or those in government directly or indirectly sanction political killings, will never give room for resolution of cases of political killings, when they take place. Our government must give the security forces free hand to operate and investigate such killings. Paying mere lip service to such issue is also not the way to go.”

Chairman at the symposium, Senator Shehu Sani, described the late Ige as “An institution, an intellectual warehouse, a principled idealist and revolutionary” who “consistently, vehemently spoke against tyranny and injustice. He is especially missed at this time when the nation is undergoing trying times”.