Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Saturday faulted the decision of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to elect Senator Iyiola Omisore, as its National Secretary.
Soyinka described Omisore as “one of the prime suspects” in the murder of a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.
In a statement released Saturday, the Nobel laureate said Omisore’s election has “hamstrung” the investigation into Ige’s death.
The Nobel laureate wondered why President Muhammadu Buhari anointed Omisore as the party’s scribe after he (the president) responded to his demand to re-open Ige’s unresolved murder at the 20th anniversary of the tragic incident.
He raised diverse questions on Buhari’s commitment to resolving the murder case after he had ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba to re-open the case files and resume the investigation.
Ige, also a former governor of old Oyo State, was gruesomely murdered on December 23, 2001, by yet-to-be-identified assailants in his Solemilia Court located at No 8, Akinlabi Sanda Close, Bodija in Ibadan, Oyo State.
His murder triggered the sudden death of his wife, Justice Atinuke Ige.
Omisore, the then Deputy Governor of Osun State, was fingered in the murder of the late AGF as the prime suspect, having been entangled in the protracted internal crisis that plagued the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD).
Ige, Omisore and his former principal, Chief Bisi Akande, were deeply involved in the party’s crisis.
Ige’s assassination was linked to an altercation that happened at the palace of Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Sijuwade Okunade during the conferment of chieftaincy title on some personalities.
In December 2002, Omisore was impeached as the Deputy Governor of Osun State over breach of oath of office and other offences.
After his impeachment, Omisore was arrested and detained over Ige’s murder but he repeatedly denied any involvement.
He was however, discharged and acquitted in June 2004 by an Ibadan High Court, which cited “contradictions and inconsistencies” as well as insufficient evidence in the prosecution’s case.
Omisore, a former senator, was adopted as the APC National Secretary at the party’s last national convention in Abuja.
Lamenting what he described as an unusual turn of events, Soyinka, in his statement yesterday, said these events had raised questions because the ruling party had just elected as its National Secretary one of the prime suspects of the most notorious of the nation’s unsolved murders.
He said: “Not for a moment does one suggest that mere accusation, even trial, presumes guilt. More than a mere verdict is involved in any trial, however.
“The process of arriving at that ultimate destination – justice – is integral to the very concept of democracy and equality under the law. That process is one of the structures of civic education.
“Unresolved till today were quite some untidy, even suspect aspects of the investigation, prosecution and trials, aspects, which revealed improper cell co-habitation by suspects under custody.
“That this led necessarily to recantations of earlier depositions is not thereby proven, but the fact remains that such U-turns did take place. One was so brazen that it induced a heart attack that proved fatal to the victim’s wife, another Justice – Mrs Atinuke Ige.
“That the prime suspect was privileged in some improper ways went beyond mere allegation. Political interventions, including pressure on the judiciary during bail hearings, cannot be denied. A judge under such pressure kept a diary with accusations, pages of which he consigned to friends for safekeeping.”
Explaining what Omisore’s emergence means to re-opening Ige’s murder case, Soyinka said the resumption of an investigation into the murder case was already hamstrung and disrobed of credibility with the emergence of a prime suspect in the case as the National Secretary of the ruling APC.
With Omisore’s emergence as the APC National Secretary, Soyinka rhetorically asked: “Is the Inspector-General of Police equipped to confront political obstacles in a resumption of investigation?
“Is there any guarantee that the result will see the light of day? How suspect, ab initio, will be the conclusions, given the present political ordering? To this layman, that investigative revisit is already hamstrung and disrobed of credibility.
“I think the nation should simply relieve President Buhari of his pledge. I am certain the Inspector-General of Police will be equally relieved and can now turn his mind and energy to the national accustomed posture – business as usual.”
Soyinka wondered what happened to Buhari’s pledge to re-open an enquiry into the country’s spate of political murders in response to his demand at the 20th anniversary of Ige’s murder.
He lamented that barely three months had passed since the 20th anniversary of Ige’s murder – an occasion, which according to him, was used to remind the president of a subsisting election pledge.
He said: “That pledge was to re-open the files on the spate of unsolved political assassinations that had plagued the nation in recent decades. Prominent among those cases was that of the Minister of Justice, murdered on his way to take up a prestigious position with the United Nations.
“Presidential response was swift. Buhari ordered the Inspector-General of Police to re-open those files and resume investigations. The nation has patiently awaited even a hint of work in progress.
“Most, I am certain, expect no less than a revaluation of prior investigative efforts. None, to my knowledge, has attempted to rush the Chief of Police and his team into judgment.
“We all take solace in the knowledge that the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they arrive. Eventually,” Soyinka said in his statement doubting the president’s pledge to resolve Ige’s murder.
Gboyega Akinsanmi
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