‘Don’t play politics with Ige’s murder’

Bola Ige

A former Deputy Governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has cautioned Governor Rauf Aregbesola against playing politics with the assassination of the late Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige.

Ige was murdered at his residence on December 23, 2001 by yet-to-be-known assassins.

Omisore, who was one of the suspects arrested and detained over the murder of the late Minister of Justice, said Aregbesola was merely dabbling into the case in order to make cheap political gain.

He said he had reopened the Ige murder case with a suit at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, asking for a N2bn compensation for malicious persecution. He asked the Osun governor to join the case if he had new evidence in the matter.

Aregbesola and some civil rights groups on Tuesday, at an event organised by the Bola Ige Centre for Justice in Ibadan, asked the Federal Government to revisit the assassination of Ige, 12 years after.

The governor specifically asked that the government rearrest suspects in the case.

A statement by Omisore’s Director of  Publicity, Mr. Diran Odeyemi, said, “We make bold to say that Senator Iyiola Omisore, who was persecuted for almost three and half years and made to suffer unjustly, has reopened the case at the Federal High Court, Ibadan, seeking N2bn as damages for malicious prosecution.

“We therefore wish to advise Ogbeni Aregbesola that if he has new evidence, he should apply to be joined in this case so that the truth will unfold. It is disheartening that Aregbesola and his ilk have chosen to dance on Ige’s grave several years after his gruesome murder purely for political gain.

“When last was Aregbesola seen at Ige’s anniversary for genuine concern for the late politician?

“If there are fresh facts why didn’t they appeal the judgement on Ige’s murder over these years, why now that election timetable was released by INEC?

Omisore is a Peoples Democratic Party’s aspirant in the governorship poll coming up in Osun State later in the year. Aregbesola will be seeking re-election in the poll.

Meanwhile, the  Osun State Correspondent of Ibadan-based Nigerian Tribune, Mr. Wole Ige, on Tuesday narrowly escaped being killed by suspected political thugs in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

 Ige had reportedly gone to the Ogo Oluwa area of the town for an assignment and stumbled on a clash between suspected hoodlums of both the PDP and the APC.

The correspondent’s attempt at taking shots of the scene was said to have infuriated the hoodlums, who pursued him with broken bottles, machetes and other weapons.