By Hon. Femi Kehinde
…Society Still Dances on Cicero’s Grave
In the twilight of December 2001, specifically on Thursday, 20th of December, I saw Chief Bola Ige at the Foyer of the National Assembly precincts engaged in a hearty discussion, with Honorable Chudi Offodile, my colleague in the House of Representatives, an Honorable member representing Awka North/South Federal Constituency of Anambra State. He saw me, and I broke into their conversations not knowing I was seeing him for the last time. I had gone to the National Assembly that morning to pick my mails from my Mailbox before going home for the December/New year vacation. As our leader, icon, highly revered mentor, and pathfinder, I greeted him very warmly, and promised to see him in Ibadan or Esa-Oke during the Yuletide season. It never happened.
Bola Ige, then Nigeria’s sitting Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation was brutally murdered only few days later in the evening of Sunday, the 23rd of December 2001, in his Solemnia Court home – No. 8 Akinlabi Sanda Close, Bodija, Ibadan by yet to be identified assassins.
Chief James Ajibola Idowu Adegoke Ige SAN, was a Nigerian lawyer, polyglot, orator and politician. His father was a native of Esa-Oke whilst his mother was a native of Ila-Orangun, both in present day Osun State of Nigeria. Ige attended St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Kaduna. He moved to Ibadan after the completion of his primary school education at the age of 13, and was admitted to the prestigious Ibadan Grammar School in 1943, for his secondary school education, which he completed in 1948.
Bola Ige was thereafter admitted to the newly established University of Ibadan where he studied Classics. After completion of his first degree in Ibadan, he was admitted to the University College of London, where he read Law, and graduated in 1959. He thereafter enrolled at the Inner Bar Temple from where he was called to the English Bar in 1961. The same year, he established the law firm of Bola Ige & Co in Ibadan.
During the first Republic (1960-1966), Bola Ige became well known when he was elected the Federal Publicity Secretary of the Action Group (AG), at the 8th Annual National Congress of the party held in Jos between February 1 and February 8, 1962. As a result of the conflagration where some set of new leaders emerged, following the dismissal of Premier Samuel Ladoke Akintola and some of his loyalists from the party, S.G. Ikoku became the new National Secretary of the party as against the dismissed National Secretary, Barr. Ayo Rosidi.
Bola Ige was a Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources between 1967 and 1970 under the Military Government of Colonel Robert Adeyinka Adebayo as Military Governor of Western Nigeria and General Yakubu Gowon as Head of State of Nigeria.
In the early 1970s, during the first period of military rule, he devoted his time to the Anti-Racism campaign of the World Council of Churches. Towards the end of the 1970s, he joined the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the successor to the Action Group. When General Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the Second Republic, he was elected as governor of old Oyo State from October 1st 1979 to 30th September 1983. Adebisi Akande, later governor of Osun State after it was split from Oyo State, was secretary to the government and later, Deputy Governor during this period.
In the 1983 elections, when he ran for re-election as the UPN candidate, he was defeated by Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo. Bola Ige unsuccessfully challenged the election in court. Before Bola Ige left the Government House, Agodi, Ibadan, on the 30th of September 1983, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, a well known academician and seasoned journalist, wrote a beautiful piece in the Guardian Newspapers, as a befitting passing eulogy to the man of immense knowledge, learning, erudition and oration- Cicero Goes Back to Esa-Oke.
However, Olunloyo lost the seat three months later to a coup staged by Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Babatunde Idiagbon. Bola Ige was detained after the coup, accused of enriching himself with party funds. Uniquely, in accordance to the UPN Constitution, Bola Ige as Governor, was also the Chairman of the party in Oyo State. He was released in 1985 after the next coup, by Ibrahim Babangida and returned to his legal practice in Ibadan and also to writing.
In 1990, he published People, Politics and Politicians of Nigeria: 1940–1979, a book that he started while in prison. He was one of the founders of the influential Yoruba pressure group, Afenifere. Although, critical of the Military rule of General Sani Abacha, Ige avoided political difficulties during this period.
Following the restoration of democracy in 1999, Ige sought the nomination of the Alliance for Democracy Party (AD) as a presidential candidate but lost out in the power game. President Obasanjo appointed Ige as Minister of Mines and Power (1999–2000). The Ministry of Mines and Power, was certainly not Bola Ige’s familiar terrain but nonetheless, he made his marks. He then became Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (2000-2001).
In September 2001, Ige said that the Federal Government had initiated a program to re-arrange and consolidate the Laws of the Federation, publish them in digital form, and make them available on the website of his Ministry. He campaigned ardently against the imposition of the Sharia Law in the Northern States of Nigeria. In November 2001, he said that the Federal Government would not allow the Sokoto State Government to execute the judgment of a verdict passed by a Gwadabawa Sharia Court to stone a woman, Safiya Hussaini to death for committing adultery.
Bola Ige was unique and outstanding in his chosen path and career. At 23, he became the organizing secretary of the defunct Action Group in 1953. He used his charisma and natural organizational ability to increase the membership of the party far beyond the West where it was founded in 1951, as an offshoot of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa.
As Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources in the Western Nigeria, many still talk about his achievements in ensuring the presence of massive mechanized farming all through the region, most especially reinvigoration of Agric farm settlements in various parts of the Region.
On the 1st of October, 1979, he was sworn in as the newly elected Governor of old Oyo State on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). On his assumption of office, he ordered the immediate return of school fees earlier paid by secondary school students before his government came to into power.
Some years ago, Bola Ige’s bosom friend and noble laureate, – Professor Wole Soyinka said, “we have a phenomenon of unsolved murders and we know for a fact that some of them are the result of corrupt forces. A notorious example: A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the country, Bola Ige was assassinated in his bedroom. It wasn’t a political affair, political rivalry and contestation. He was killed, you know, by the forces of corruption and so this compels one to ask what has happened to the investigation ordered by the President of the country into those high-profile murders. If we do not solve some of these murders, we cannot get into the heart, into the core of the corruption in this country and this involves also the authorized and constitutional agency of open society such as the judiciary.”
Bola Ige had been entangled in squabbles within his party – The Alliance for Democracy (AD) and these squabbles generated cynical reactions from each side of the divides, that is, the Bisi Akande and Iyiola Omisore’s divides.
Bola Ige’s assassination was linked to an altercation that happened at the palace of Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, during the conferment of Chieftaincy titles on some individuals. Ige was mobbed by an high-rate crowd as they stripped him of his necklace, cap and destroyed his pair of medicated glasses. It is an irony of history and circumstance that Oba Okunade Sijuwade was installed as the Ooni of Ife in December 1980 by Chief Bola Ige then in his capacity as Governor of old Oyo State, at the Enuwa Square Palace of the Ooni where he also gave the Ooni the Instruments and Staff of Office.
A day after the assault of Bola Ige in December 2001, Omisore granted an interview to Tempo Magazine that was published the following week.
In his words, “Bola Ige came on radio here to insult me and my family. That is his last one. He was beaten yesterday; the people of Ife beat him up and he was crying like a baby as they removed his cap and his glasses.”
This pointed Nigerians to the long-standing disagreements between the duo. The then Osun State Governor, Bisi Akande and his Deputy, Omisore were never on good terms and the latter was eventually impeached by the Osun State House of Assembly for various irregularities. A fellow Ife kinsman, Barr Adeleke Adewoyin, succeeded him.
It was evident that as a key leader of AD, Chief Bola Ige was behind Akande. The sour relationship between Akande and Omisore caused a fracas at the State Assembly and even led to the death of a prominent member of the House representing Ife Central Local Government Area, Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju.
A week after the attack on Bola Ige at Ooni’s palace, he was killed in his home in Ibadan. Omisore alongside others, were arrested and arraigned before an Oyo State High Court as part of the suspected killers of the former Attorney-General of the Federation, but were later released for lack of evidence.
Reacting to this in his autobiography, Akande said, “there was enough evidence that the Government of President Obasanjo was reluctant to find the killers of Bola Ige”. According to him, his summon to Abuja to meet with Obasanjo and the involvement of Omisore in the wake of the assassination was a fundamental poser that the government was bent on sweeping the murder of the Attorney-General under the carpet.
Akande further said in his autobiography – “When I was about to board the aircraft on my return trip back to Ibadan, I saw Omisore. The jet had gone ahead to bring Omisore to Ibadan. What they told him I did not know. So why try to bring us together for a chat? All this created suspicion in my mind that cover-up was actively in the offing. That was why I came to the conclusion that the Federal Government was complicit in the assassination of Uncle Bola Ige.’’
Chief Bola Ige’s last few days in December 2001 were certainly epochal and memorable. According to his first child and daughter – a senior lawyer, Barr. Mrs. Funso Adegbola in her book on her dad and mum ably titled, “HE GAVE ME WINGS AND SHE GAVE ME ROOTS”, published in 2005, second publication in 2023, and reprinted in 2025. She noted therein, “To the glory of God, on the 8th December 2001, he was appointed to the United Nations’ Law Reform Commission, New York. We were all proud of this achievement. Unfortunately, he was killed fifteen days later, and was unable to take up this assignment. Also, in December, he was honored by the members of the California Bar Association in the United States”.
She further stated, “On 18th December 2001, the Federal Government of Nigeria honoured Mum with the Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR). Dad was proud that his wife was honoured and acknowledged, even though he thought she deserved a higher honour. He was beaming with smiles as she collected her medal from the President. We were all in Dad’s official residence in Abuja (including my family and Muyiwa’s family). Dad said a prayer of thanksgiving for Mum’s life, for crowning her career with national honour; he prayed for Muyiwa and me, that we would be greater than he was; he prayed for his grandchildren, that they would live long enough to achieve even more than their parents. He prayed for forty minutes, just thanking God for everything. Little did we know that it was our last family prayer with him. On that day, he insisted that only he and Mum, Muyiwa and I take the family photograph. As we ate together that evening, I pulled his cheeks, like I used to do when younger. He regaled my children with stories of my childhood. We had such a great and memorable time together in Abuja.
“I returned to Ibadan with my children on 20th December, while Dad and Mum returned very late on the night of 21st December, after he had attended the funeral ceremonies of Chief Solanke Onasanya. Dad actually wanted to return to Ibadan before 22nd December, which was my birthday, so that, as usual, he would be the first person to wish me a happy birthday. That day, at about 12 midnight, Dad called me and prayed for me, thanking God for my life. I told him I would attend a wedding program later that day, and he promised to join me at the wedding if he was not too busy. That evening, I took him some of the food and cake which had been prepared for my birthday. He ate it with relish and shared it with those who came to visit him.
“Early on 23rd December 2001, he called to thank me for the food I had brought and also prayed for me and thanked God for giving him such joy and pride through his children. By the evening of the Sunday, 23rd December 2001, my entire life was turned upside down. My Dad had been shot and killed in the sanctity of his home and bedroom.
“After my Dad phoned and prayed for me that 23rd December morning, he told me he was going to Holy Communion Service at St Anne’s Church, Molete, after he would go to Lagos to bring his elder brother, Mr. George Ige, to Ibadan for proper medical attention at Oluyoro Catholic Hospital.
“My Dad kept his itinerary and my brother, Muyiwa, accompanied him to Lagos. Dad had promised to attend Carol Service at our church, All Saints’ Church, Jericho, Ibadan, because he loved the choir and carols. My children, Kayode and Ayotunde, had also signed Christmas cards and wrapped presents for him to take to our hometown, Esa-Oke, in Osun State, Nigeria, where he usually spent Christmas. I had gone to my parents’ house in Bodija, twice on that faithful Sunday, 23rd December 2001.
“After the Carol Service, when my parents didn’t come as promised, I drove to their house to check on them. Only to discover the totally unexpected! There was an eerie silence even as we entered the house and my daughter Ayotunde though only eight years old then, was particularly touchy and irritable as she looked for domestic staff, but only the driver, police orderly and security detail were present. The driver said my parents were upstairs.
As we went up the stairs, my children were wondering where everyone was, so they called out, ‘Grandma, Grandpa, where are you? At first, there was no response, which made me panic even more. Kayode went straight to my Mum’s room and shouted, ‘Grandma, Grandma’, to which we heard a feeble response, ‘Kayode.’ I tried to open the door and discovered it was locked, so I unlocked it, and immediately, my brother, Muyiwa, jumped out saying, ‘Daddy, Daddy, I heard gunshots.’ We both rushed to my Dad’s room and there we found his body lying on the floor. He and Muyiwa were both wearing white ‘buba and sokoto’.
Immediately, Muyiwa sprung into action, covered the gunshot wound and started doing CPR. He then carried the body, took him into the car, and sped to the hospital. I tried to follow him in my car but couldn’t keep up with his speed. When I got to the Housing Corporation building in Bodija, it was obvious I could not catch up with him. I went straight home to inform my husband, Gbenro that my Dad had been shot and I also wanted to take money to the hospital in case we needed to pay for surgery or something. I prayed that evening that God would save my Dad and that the shooting wouldn’t lead to his death. Unfortunately, this wasn’t so, as the doctors said he was BID – brought in dead.
“The nurses on duty at Oluyoro Hospital, where my Dad had taken his brother a few hours earlier, couldn’t believe his corpse was brought in so soon after. My Dad had two brothers, the older one George Ige was on admission to the ward, and the younger brother, Dele Ige, came in wailing upon getting the news of the middle brother’s death. For different reasons, the three Ige brothers were in Oluyoro Hospital that fateful night. Incidentally, Mr. George Ige, the family’s patriarch and former Federal Permanent Secretary, died in January 2002, the day after we completed the final obsequies for his younger brother. The youngest brother, a lawyer and businessman, Sir Dele Ige died on 12 May 2012. The last brother in and the last one out. We thank God for their lives.”
The book, “HE GAVE ME WINGS AND SHE GAVE ME ROOTS”, by Barr. Mrs. Funsho Adegbola, is certainly a magnus opus on the last moments of Chief Bola Ige. In any serious clime, with committed judiciary and robust apparatus of Police investigational skill and zeal, murder is certainly not a hard nut to crack. The Apalara murder trial of 1953, remains a glorious example of Nigeria’s highly committed judiciary and the Police’s highly commendable investigation skill and zeal in the days of yore.
In Criminal Jurisprudence, it was not a difficult challenge, to sustain a murder conviction even without the discovery of the murdered person’s corpse, “corpus delicti”.
In Apalara’s murder case, eleven accused persons were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara on the 3rd of January 1953 at the Tapa Street, Oko Baba, Ebute-Metta, Lagos.
On the evening of January 3, 1953, Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara preached for the last time in his life against the secret cult that he had hated passionately and later that night, he was murdered with an axe. He died at the prime age of 35 years.
The detective police officer, Sergeant John Aboderin, who investigated the case, did a yeoman’s job in unraveling the identities of the murderers of Alfa Bisiriyu Apalara. It was West Africa’s most sensational murder trial in 1953. The trial judge, Justice De Comarmond of the Lagos High Court, and the Jury, in a trial that lasted some months, convicted the accused persons and sentenced them to death by hanging. What a speedy trial and justice. This sentence, was later upheld on appeal by the West African Court of Appeal (WACA).
Surely, death is inevitable but the unresolved murder of Bola Ige still remains a sour taste in the mouth. The chronology of Bola Ige’s assassination still requires a scrupulous audit regardless of whose ox is gored. After all, crimes and criminalities are not covered by statutes of limitation.
May the soul of the great Chief James Ajibola Idowu Adegoke Ige continually find peaceful repose with the Almighty Lord.
Hon. (Barr.) Femi Kehinde is the
Principal Partner, Femi Kehinde & Co (Solicitors) and Former Member, House of Representatives National Assembly, Abuja, representing Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa Federal Constituency of Osun State (1999-2003).
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