Fifteen years after the gruesome murder of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige, his killers are still at large. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the life and times of the colourful politician, his ideas and travails and his unfulfilled hope for the country.
Fifteen years after, his killers are still at large. Every December unleashes the memory of the midnight gruesome murder at Bodija Estate, Ibadan. The scars have not faded. The pains linger in the minds of relations and associates. The puzzle remains unresolved. Who killed James Ajibola Ige, the most colourful Yoruba politician in post-Awolowo era?
On December 23, 2001, the news reverberated throughout the country that Ige was no more. He was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. The inability of government to unravel his assassination aptly underscores the illusion of justice and shallow commitment to security.
Ige, lawyer, prolific writer, eloquent social critic and astute politician, was a committed Awoist. He was a dependable ally of the late sage, Chief Obafemi AwolowoIn the First Republic, he was the National Publicity Secretary of the defunct Action Group (AG) . In the late sixties, he was a commissioner in the military government of Col. Adeyinka Adebayo in the Western State. In the Second Republic, he was governor of the old Oyo State on the platform of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). In post-Third Republic, he emerged as the deputy leader of Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group. He died as an elder statesman and top member of the Obasanjo administration.
He was full of magnetism, charm, charisma and carriage. Ige had a caustic tongue. He was simply electrifying on the podium. On some occasions, he also ran into crisis. When he was assailed by the vicissitudes of life, he bore his ordeals with philosophical calmness. His regrets were many. In the First Republic, he labored in vain with Awo to get federal power. His leader ended up as the Leader of Opposition and later, as a political prisoner. Thirteen years after the fall of the indigenous leadership, he was governor. But, he lost re-election in controversial circumstances. Besides, he was jailed by the military. Besides, his loss of a promising son, Olugbenga, was tragic. In the camp of Awoists, Ige and his colleagues-Lateef Jakande and Bisi Onabanjo-were subjects of envy. On some occasions, his political career was threatened by malicious colleagues. He survived the bitterness in Awo’s days. But, it was a different ball game afterwards.
In 1999, he was rejected at the presidential primary of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) by the Awoists. They said Ige lacked a national outlook, unlike Chief Olu Falae, the former Secretary to the Federal Military Government. That singular even marked the gradual of ways between Ige and his old friends in Awo camp.
Was his participation in the Federal Government a mistake? Many compatriots disagreed with him for joining forces with Obasanjo. But, others felt that he followed the footsteps of Awo, who served as the Federal Commissioner for Finance in the Gowon administration. The controversy was not resolved in Afenifere before he passed on.
Why was he killed? This may remain in the realm of conjecture for long. His son, Muyiwa, said the eminent politician was set to retrace his steps from the Obasanjo government before he was murdered. He explained that he wanted to resign in preparation for the 2003 elections. The motive was to rebuild the Alliance for Democracy (AD), ahead of the polls.
Ige had no premonition about the looming disaster. Perhaps, he ignored the signs. He had informed the Owa Omiran Adediran of Esa-Oke that many guests would come to the town during the Yuletide. Ironically, the guests came for the funeral of the Cicero.
Before his murder, he had been molested at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, the late Oba Okunade Sijuwade, where hoodlums seized his cap and hung it on a nearby tree. Other guests at the installation of the late Mrs. Stella Obasanjo as a chief were taken aback. Many believe that the assault was the forerunner to the murder at Ibadan. Ige’s murder provoked rage, emotional outburst and lamentation. Eminent Nigerians described the killing as too callous. At his lying-in-state, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka decried the hypocrisy of his foes crying more than the bereaved. He said: “Ige’s killers are here with us”.
Ige was a bridge builder. He had friends across the six geo-political zones. He believed in mentoring young Nigerians from all walks of life. Fork-tongued and skilled in the war of words, Ige’s mouth was sharper than the razor’s edge. He was also humorous. He was loyal to Awo. That undiluted loyalty earned him the nicknamed, “Arole Awolowo,” a likely successor to the late sage.
In Law and politics, Ige distinguished himself, to the delight of the indomitable Awo. Yet, he was an ardent critic of Awo and the AG before he joined the fold. He had criticized the AG for lack of an articulated articulate a foreign policy. Awo opened a file where he kept the thought-provoking articles written by Ige, especially his documented attacks against his party. When Awo’s lawyer friend, Chief Morohundiya, under who Ige later took off as a pupil lawyer, took the rebellious young lawyer to the AG leader, Ige told Awo that he stood by the position he had taken. Indeed, Awo admired that candour, for only a few could call a spade a spade. Recognising his potentials, he resolved to groom him, encourage him and moderate his views.
Consequently, Awo made Ige a member of the AG Committee for Review of Foreign Policy, along with the late Prof. Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Akin Mabogunje, Tunde Oloko, Olumbe Bashir and Aluko. He was also an active member of the AG Youth Association led by Remi Fani-Kayode, and later, Ayo Fasanmi, the socialist chemist. He was also given the assignment to defend the oppressed United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) chieftains when the leaders of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) hounded them into detention. When the House of Representatives primary on Lagos Mainland between Sikiru Shitta-Bey, Secretary of the AG Youth Association, and Adewale Thompson, son of the licensed surveyor at Odaliki Street, Ebute-Meta, was deadlock, Ige was the young AG leader sent to hold a fresh shadow poll. He reported to Awo that although both Shitta-Bey and Thompson were popular, it appeared to him that the pendulum of victory tilted more to the direction of the son of “Seriki Musulumi” of Lagos. Awo ratified Ige’s report.
He stirred many controversies in the First Republic. He was a critic of the Balewa government. On the eve of the Commonwealth of Nations’ Head of Government meeting in Lagos, Prime Minister Balewa had to stop a live television programme in which Ige was a discussant. After dissecting the agenda of the meeting, Ige described the Commonwealth as an organisation where the wealth was not common. The programme was stopped immediately.
When Premier Ladoke Akintola boasted that the ring of power had been fixed on his finger and nobody could remove it. Ige went on air, saying that, if the ring could not be removed, the finger could be cut off. Ige was detained along with prominent AG leaders. He was detained in Kwale, old Midwest Region during the six month emergency period. Ige, a wordsmith, was fluent in Hausa. In Kano, he narrowly escaped death when the NPC tough boys pounced on his campaign train.
Ige was dropped as commissioner in the Western State for being a rebel criticising other agencies of government. Out of government, he returned to his legal practice. In1975, he became a member of Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) set up by Muritala/Obasanjo Administration to fashion out a new constitution, preparatory to the return of power to civilians. The committee was chaired by the late Chief Rotimi Williams. Awo declined to serve in the committee.
As a member of the “Committee of Friends”, Ige became a founding leader of the UPN led by Awo. In 1979, he vied for the governorship of Oyo State, defeating his rival and former Vice Principal, Venerable Emmanuel Alayande, to the discomfort of Awo, who had favoured the cleric for the slot. Asked to step down for the old man by Awo, who promised to make him a minister after winning the presidential election, Ige was said to have retorted: “I cannot leave certainty for uncertainty”. After his victory at the poll, he mounted pressure on Alayande to serve as his Special Adviser on Education.
The 1979 governorship election was a tough contest between him and Chief Richard Akinjide, the candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). At a television debate, there was a hot argument between the two lawyers. The old “NCNCer” was said to have, in Ige’s view, politically disparaged Awo’s Free Education Policy. Ige’s reply was harsh. He asked: “ How many of your relatives who benefitted from the programme are armed robbers, charlatans and social miscreants”. Tempers rose. Some scolded Ige for extreme polemics. Others laughed it off.
Curiously, relations Ige and his deputy, the late Chief Sunday Afolabi, was strained. Their mutual friend, Obasanjo, offered to mediate in the crisis. It became Ige’s undoing. His rivals in the UPN came up with charges of disloyalty against in at the Yola Conference of the UPN. In that delicate moment, he narrowly escaped expulsion from the Awo’s political family. Historians have referred to the difficult moment as the “night of long knives”. Ige’s saving grace was Awo, who employed wisdom in handling the sensitive matter. Afolabi later defected to the NPN to team up with ChiefsAdisa Akinloye, Akinjide, Busari Adelakun, Lamidi Adedibu and Victor Olunloyo to sack Ige from power.Following the 1983 coup, Ige was detained, tried and sentenced to imprisonment by the military tribunal. He was released by former President Ibrahim Babangida, who dethroned Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State.
But in private life, Ige courted controversy. At a public lecture, he referred the Olubadan of Ibadan and the Soun of Ogbomoso as Baales upgraded into first class obaship by former Governor David Jemibewon. There was uproar in Ibadanland. His Ibadan title, the “Aare Alasa” was withdrawn by the Olubadan-In-Council and conferred on the Ewi exponent, Olarewaju Adepoju.
Ige refused to participate in the Babangida transition programme, in obedience to Awo’s advise to the progressives to dine with the devil with a long spoon. In 1986, Awo had shunned the Political Bureau set up by IBB and chaired by Dr. Cookery. He doubted the sincerity of the military President, warning that the nation had embarked on a fruitless search. Awo said: “When we imagine that the new political order has arrived, we will be terribly disappointed”. The prophecy came true with the annulment of the presidential election of 1993 won by Chief Moshood Abiola, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate.
Ige continued with the “siddon look” style during the Abacha regime when he dismissed the five political parties of the era as the five fingers of a leprous hand. When he later teamed up with pro-democracy fighters and “June 12” agitators coordinated by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), he was on the collision course with the military. When Abdulsalami regime came, he traversed the two parties, PDP, which had majority of his colleagues in “G 34” as members, and All Nigeria Peoples Party (APP). Although he wrote the constitutions of the two parties, he could not cohabitate with the hawks of Abacha era. Although the closing date for party registration had elapsed, the Federal Government, based on the advice of Admiral Mike Akhigbe, registered AD, to forestall the exclusion of credible Southwest leaders from the transition programme.
The AD was seized by crisis from the onset. At D’Rovans, Awoists rejected Ige in preference for Falae as presidential flag bearer. Ige never forgave his colleagues. He fought back. Against Afenifere’s wish, he joined the Obasanjo government. He was mocked by Afolabi, Minister of Internal Affairs, who described his former boss as a visitor, who was invited to eat, only to hold the hand of his host. Ige replied that he had not come to eat, but to serve his fatherland.
It was an understatement. In the Power and Steel ministry, Ige was like a stranger. But, it was a different ball game at the Ministry of Justice, where he motivated the celebrated suit on resource control and laid the template for the anti-graft war.
Before his death, Muyiwa, a former Commissioner for Physical Planning in Osun State, said he was contemplating a disengagement from the Federal Executive Council. He was said to have written to Obasanjo, intimating him of his desire to bid farewell to the cabinet. He said he would focus his attention on strengthening the zone, ahead of the 2003 election.
Ige was an advocate of restructuring and the convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to discuss the basis for mutual co-existence. But, rebuilding AD was the immediate priority. “I have a pivotal role to play in my party, AD, while you are engineering your party,the PDP. I need to strengthen my own, so that in 2003, there will be a credible, strong and clean national government in which the major parties will be represented”, he wrote. Ige prayed that “nothing will happen adversely which will frustrate the fond hope”. It was an unanswered prayer.
What would have been Ige’s position on the Boko Haram insurgency, Niger Delta militancy, agitation for the Republic of Biafra and cries of marginalization in some zones? What would have been his opinion of the anti-corruption war, the evolution of a mega party in 2014/15, the doctrine of necessity, constitution amendment, zoning or rotational presidency and regionalism?
