Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to fish out the killers of a former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.
The Herald recalls that yet-to-be-identified assailants stormed Ige’s home in Ibadan, Oyo State on December 23, 2001, and shot him dead.
Soyinka said that failure to expose the killers of Ige and other victims of politically-motivated killings leads to a culture of impunity and puts the nation at risk.
The octogenarian noted that the president would be mending “the broken lines of justice” if he could ensure that perpetrators of such heinous crimes were exposed.
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The celebrated essayist stated this in a statement to Ige’s family addressed to the daughter, Mrs. Funso Adegbola, on the occasion of an event titled, “20th Bola Ige Memorial Symposium: Two decades of injustice: What are the implications on Nigerian democracy?” organised by the Bola Ige For Justice Centre in Lagos on Tuesday.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, what has become of your robust pledge to open an enquiry into the spate of political murders that the nation has undergone in recent years? Does it all amount to yet another instance of political bravado? While we all accept that all lives should be valued equally, some impose a special responsibility on those in governance.
“Bola Ige, as the nation’s Minister of Justice, and United Nation’s civil servant designate, was unarguably one of such. A nation’s honour is in question and remains so until the hour of closure. Thus, she must never relent in demanding an explanation for his brutal murder. Expose the perpetrators, identify the conspirators and reinstate the broken lines of justice.
“At the very least, we need a formal declaration regarding those who displayed an abnormal interest in the fates of those accused, to a level of proven, documented interference both in the investigative process and within the judiciary.
“I am not alone in having written and lectured on these sordid aspects that fuelled the subversion of justice. There are surviving witnesses,” Soyinka said.