Bisi Akande: Obasanjo’s government was reluctant to find Bola Ige’s killers

Bisi Akande, former interim chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has alleged that the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was reluctant to find the killers of Bola Ige.

Ige, former attorney-general of the federation during Obasanjo’s tenure, was killed on December 23, 2001.

In his autobiography “My Participations” unveiled on Thursday, Akande said some people in Obasanjo’s government decided to deal with Ige because of the late minister’s popularity.

The former governor of Osun state said the deceased started having issues with some people when Obasanjo paid an official visit to Oyo state and Ige stole the show.

“I believe what brought problem for Uncle Bola were his charisma, his relentless pursuit of the common good, his magical popularity with the Yoruba people. I knew he might be in trouble the day I witnessed what the PDP leadership later dubbed ‘The Shame’ at the Liberty Stadium,” Akande wrote.

“I believe it was after that outing that some elements close to the president met and decided to deal with Bola Ige. The next time Obasanjo would enter that stadium was to participate in the burial ceremonies of Ige.

“There was enough evidence that the government of President Obasanjo was reluctant to find the killers of Bola Ige.

“The man who came hunting for us was President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ige’s friend for many years who became our relentless foe.

“He and Ige met in the late 1960s when both of them served in the government of then Colonel Adeyinka Adebayo, the second military ruler of the old West. Since then, Obasanjo had digged Ige’s path like an evil spirit. During his reign as military head of state, Ige gave him a wide berth, yet Obasanjo would not disappear from Ige’s path.”

Akande added that after Ige’s murder, a copy of the former minister’s letter of resignation from Obasanjo’s government was found in his bedroom in Abuja.