Friends and associates of the late Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Chief James Ajibola Ige (SAN) yesterday assembled in Ibadan, Oyo State, to celebrate the life and times of the astute politician and Awoist who was murdered in his Bodija, Ibadan home on December 23, 2001.
The event was the 77th post-humous birthday of the Chief Law Officer of the federation held at the Premier Hotel in the city.
The event, organised by a socio-political group, "Bola Ige Movement", comprising political associates of the late minister, provided an avenue to renew call for the investigation of Ige's cold blooded murder with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book.
At the well attended event were Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State, and his predecessor, Bola Tinubu; former Governor Lam Adesina of Oyo State, his Ekiti State counterpart, Adeniyi Adebayo, Osun's Bisi Akande who doubles as the National Chairman of the Action Congress (AC), Prof. Akinwunmi Ishola, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, Prof. Adebayo Faleti, Odia Ofeimu, Afenifere Chieftain, Ayo Opadokun, former Minister, Dr. Olu Agunloye, as well as gubernatorial candidates of the AC in Osun and Ekiti states in the last April elections, Rauf Aregbesola and Dr. Kayode Fayemi.
Tinubu in his address at the event berated the former President Olusegun Obasanjo Administration for its failure to bring those behind Ige's murder to book saying this singular act has dented the image of the nation in the international world.
Pointing out that the Yorubas will not accept that the case be closed without getting justice, Tinubu called on President Umar Yar'Adua to rise up to the challenge and reopen investigation into the matter.
He said: "The circumstances of the death of Chief Bola Ige in whose honour this occasion was organised and the perfunctory investigation aborted by the Obasanjo Administration remain an eternal shame on Nigeria in the eyes of the civilised world. The same Nigeria Police that uncovered the killers of Apalara in the colonial period, the same Nigeria Police that tracked down Ejigbadero during the military era were hindered and hampered from performing their civic obligation to the Nigerian people. Instead, the whole nation was put on a wild goose chase, running after charades and shadows while the culprits are shielded from the long arm of the law."
Pointing out that the event calls for sober reflection from all lovers of the late politician, Tinubu said the time had come for all progressive forces in the South-West to take up the challenge and ensure that the late Ige's dreams did not die.
This, according to the AC chieftain, include the revival and consolidation of the legacy of welfarism that remains the contribution of the Awoist movement to the dynamics of Nigeria's political economy, free education, free health, gainful employment as well as mass housing for the poor.
While lauding the judiciary for the preservation of the Rule of Law and the moral regeneration of the nation, Tinubu called on the Election Petition Tribunals across the country to complement this effort by sanctifying the right of the Nigerian people to elect representatives of their choice despite intimidation and threats of violence.
We call on the tribunals to assert the principle of popular sovereignty. This is the most precious gift that this nation can bestow on Ige and the good people of Nigeria who loved him with passion and still hold him in their hearts," Tinubu said.
Fashola on his part, said it was a shame that the nation's erstwhile Chief Law Officer who fought for the cause of justice died without getting justice.
Describing the late Ige as a colossus and an ardent advocate of the Rule of Law, the Lagos State governor recalled that the former minister, during his time as the Attorney General, ensured that court judgments were complied with.
"It is noteworthy that the late Ige used the law during his tenure to solve many national issues, including the vexed issue of resource control. It is ironic that somebody so committed to the cause of justice never got justice in his death. His murderers must be brought to book even though this will not bring him back."
Turning to Ige's children, Fashola said the late politician had bequeathed to them a worthy legacy that must not be allowed to die and enjoined all and sundry to embrace our traditional values.
This, he said, was already being done in Lagos State with the resuscitation of vacation jobs as well as mass housing for all.
In his commemorative lecture, Prof. Segun Gbadegesin who traced the history of the Yoruba from the pre-colonial days to the present dispensation said the best years of the race were not in its joining the mainstream but in self-determination.
Gbadegesin, a professor of Philosophy at Howard University, Washington, in his lecture titled: "Re-inventing the Yoruba post-Obasanjo Presidency," said "mainstreaming as re-invention is not what the Yoruba needs. The best years of the Yoruba nation have been those in which self-determination produced great results for the body, mind and spirit of the Yoruba person, when the whole world testified to the genius of the Yoruba, when freedom for all, life more abundant was not just an ideological rhetoric but a practical policy of the state."
He continued: "We do not need to forcefully re-invent the Yoruba nation in the image of an ignorant, greedy, self loathing, shameless and lazy cabal, for these qualities are antithetical to the Yoruba spirit. If the Alliance for Democracy (AD) did not disappoint our people as a result of in-fighting and loss of focus, which compromised performance and delivery of services, the Yoruba people would not have anything to do with a crafty strategist haunted by the ghost of Awo. The mainstreaming he is advocating and invested his years in office is nothing but the re-invention of the Yoruba in the image of others."
At the event were two of Ige's children, Mrs. Funso Adegbola and Muyiwa with their families as well as the late minister's younger brother, Sir Dele Ige and members of his extended family from Esa-Oke.
From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan
The Guardian
Friday, September 14, 2007
