- Adebanjo says the Buhari government reduced Osinbajo to a “market master”
- Insists Yoruba nation has gained nothing from Tinubu taking Southwest to the centre
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The brutal assassination of Chief Bola Ige, former Oyo State governor in the Second Republic, re-echoed again on Tuesday, with the blame put squarely on the doorstep of the government of then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Ige, who was then the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was shot dead on December 23, 2001 at his home in Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
Ige, a renowned political and political disciple of Chief Obafemi Awolowo had been estranged from the Afenifere family over the presidential primaries of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which was won by Chief Olu Falae.
Till date, nobody has been convicted over the brutal killing.
Read Also: There’s no person of integrity in APC from Buhari downwards, says Ayo Adebanjo
Revisiting the issue on Tuesday in an interview with Arise Television, which was monitored by TheNiche, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenefere, said Obasanjo cannot claim innocence in the matter.
“There is no doubt that we put the blame on the government of the day where the Chief Law Officer of the country with six security officers surrounding him was assassinated,” Pa Adebanjo said.
Conversations around the assassination of Bola Ige came to the fore again because of comments Chief Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun State and a political protégé of Ige, made in his autobiography, “My Participations,” which was presented to the public in Lagos last week.
In his book, Akande accused the Obasanjo administration of reluctance in the pursuit of Ige’s killers.
Adebanjo, who is politically estranged from Akande, agreed with him but also reminded the former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that at the time of the assassination, fingers of blame were also pointed at leaders of Afenifere.
Said he: “Let Akande search his conscience now that he is thinking of who might have done it. Out of spite at that time, he was accusing the leaders of Afenifere to be responsible for the death of Bola Ige. Even on the day that Ige was buried, through the inspiration of his friends, those who were dancing at the grave of Bola Ige were referring to us – myself, Papa Abraham Adesanya, Ganiyu Dawodu, Olanihun Ajayi instead of looking inwards out of spite to disgrace us.
“Now the truth is coming out. There is no doubt that Obasanjo and his government cannot claim innocence in the death of Bola Ige. Nobody is disputing that. And as far as we are concerned, Obasanjo has a lot of questions to answer on that because I don’t understand how the Chief Law Officer of the country, with six security people guarding him every time, all leaving his house as at the time the assassins came, saying they were going to eat.”
Adebanjo also reminded Nigerians that it was not only Ige that was killed in that era. “At that time, to be candid, a lot of questionable deaths happened during the regime of Obasanjo. That is a question for Obasanjo’s government to answer.”
Pa Adebanjo also used the opportunity of the interview to talk briefly on the accusation made by Akande that he was pestering Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State and a chieftain of the APC to build his house in Lekki.
Though he said he will address a press conference on Thursday on the matter, he, nevertheless said:
“The only thing I intend to respond to is the question of Tinubu buying a house for me and I will give details of how I paid for my house. That is the one which I will like to comment on, because it will be creating doubts in the minds of people. I will give details about how I built my house and give the details about how he built his own house.
“Akande is only pandering to Tinubu, who is now his benefactor. By the time I reply him, people will know. When I give the details of how I built my own house, I will ask him to give the details of how he built his house in Ilah and all the properties he has in Lagos and abroad, he should tell us the source. And that was after he left the government when he was chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and became the apron string of Tinubu. By the time we put all the facts out, people will know. He has asked me to give my source. I will do that and ask the EFCC to verify it. He should give his own and we will leave it to the public to judge.
Asked pointedly if he pestered Tinubu to build his house in Lekki as alleged by Akande, he said, “Not at all. I will give the details of the source of my income on Thursday when pressmen come here. I will give the name of the contractor, the number of the houses I sold, both the one where Ambassador Walter Carrington was attacked by Abacha. I sold it and the other properties I inherited from my mother, I sold them. I will give all those details for verification and then he can react. Truth is constant. There is no reason to cover up. And when I give my own details, I will ask for their own details.”
Chief Adebanjo derided Tinubu’s presidential ambition saying that Buhari was deceiving him.
“They claim that Buhari has promised Tinubu the presidency after he leaves office. I asked Tinubu himself, you said this man will give you the presidency and yet, he is supporting the Vice President against you, he is supporting Kayode Fayemi, he is supporting Ibikunle Amosun, all the people in your party to use them against you. And all the key positions in the coalition, particularly the security architecture in a partnership – the police, army, navy, customs, DSS, are all in a section of the country in his village. And yet, you are a partner in that government. And right now, with that, they are doing a lot of havoc to your people, and you kept on. You say you are the leader. Anyway, it is Oduduwa that is dealing with them now. They are fighting against themselves, not me. But God is God of justice. Oduduwa is God of justice. He is giving it to them all. They will tear themselves to pieces and I will be looking on. The language they are using now, is it the language of people who came together in good faith?”
Adebanjo ridiculed the claim often made by the Tinubu political camp that he mainstreamed Yoruba politics by taking the Southwest to the centre and produced the Vice President to boot.
Adebanjo said the Yoruba nation has gained nothing from that political voyage.
“I am ashamed that Tinubu is still claiming that he took the Yoruba to the centre. I asked him, what has that brought to Yoruba land except giving appointment to his cronies? What advantage has Osinbajo’s vice presidency brought to Yoruba nation and what role has he been playing as Vice President other than the role of a market master? Is that the way partners are treated in a coalition?
“They just went there to sell the Yoruba race. They have sold out and I challenge them to mention what advantage they have brought to the Yoruba people, the citizens beside giving appointments to their cronies there. I am saying it, it was a disaster. What can the average Yoruba claim to have gained by Tinubu dragging them to Buhari?
“And I have said it that the problem of operating this unfortunate constitution. All the problems of this administration that we are fighting now – state police, local governments, the question of revenue allocation, were all solved during the First Republic and they were all in the Constitution until the military cancelled the constitution and imposed this fraudulent one. And it is this fraudulent Constitution that Tinubu is emphasising, a Constitution where all the resources of Lagos State are taken to Abuja and Lagos State is only given a portion. That is the question of the VAT, he fought that question halfway and gave up, all because he wants to be president.
“These people sold out under the false promise that they will make him the president. He is now telling us that Muslim-Muslim ticket is not a problem. He is not the one to come and teach us how the Yoruba will react. His going to Buhari is a disaster. And when next we have a free and fair election, when they don’t impose candidates, he will see his picture.
“I challenge them, let them tell us what advantage they have brought to Yoruba nation, even to Nigeria. Even the northerners are shouting now, they are regretting. The Sultan is even shouting now about security. When there is no security in the country, what progress can you make? How do you expect investment to come in when the investment is not safe? That is the performance of the man that is always opening his mouth wide to join a disastrous government. Someone who should be ashamed to say that he is one of those who put the evil regime of Buhari in government.
“What can he say about this government that he should be proud of? Before this government came in, we all know the value of Naira. Before this government came in, we knew the position of our education, our health. Is it the roads that you cannot travel on now? Nobody can travel from Kaduna to the capital city Abuja without being afraid of attacks under this government.
“And that is the government that a man like Akande, who claims to be a member of the Awolowo political family, is proud of instead of covering his face in shame that he is sorry just like those who supported Buhari initially are apologizing to the country now.
“Obasanjo is one of those who supported Buhari. All those who supported Buhari initially, are they not regretting? The Naira is falling daily, there is no day in this country that somebody is not killed, raped, particularly in the domain of the president. A government that is headed by a former General of the Nigerian Army now negotiating with bandits. He cannot control them. A section of the country is being taken over. What powers have they given to the Vice President?”
Adebanjo further explained why his relationship with Akande, which used to be cordial, went south.
“I signed his (Akande) papers to become the governor. He was in contention with Akinfenwa and Bola Ige told me that it was him that he wanted and I was the chairman of the party at the time. The relationship was very cordial until they were elected into office and given the mandate not to participate in the government of Obasanjo until they did Sovereign National Conference to change the Constitution. That was where the problem started. We contested the 1999 election on the mandate that there must be a Sovereign National Conference.
“We didn’t want to contest that election. It was General Abdulsalami Abubakar that persuaded us because we insisted that a Sovereign National Conference must hold before the election just like I am insisting now that there should be no election in 2023 until this Constitution is change.
“It was Abdulsalami who said no, when you get your civilian government, go and do the change.
“As a matter of fact, at that time, I want it to be on record again, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) was not qualified to be registered as a political party. It was Abdulsalami who said, oh, you want to do another election in Nigeria without the Yoruba? You are wasting your time, you wont get peace. That was how AD was registered because we didn’t have money to register the party according to the Abacha conditions.
“When we now participated, we made it an election issue that there must be Sovereign National Conference. That was the platform that the six governorship seats in the Southwest were won. And we warned Osoba, Akande, Tinubu, Adefarati, Adebayo, Adesina that once we get the mandate of the people, they should not participate in the Obasanjo government until that conference is done. But the moment they got there, they turned coat.”