Bisi Akande Vs Ladoja: Fresh Angle Over Bola Ige’s Assassination
•By Oyeniyi Awojoodu
IBADAN – Former Osun state Governor, and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, has disclosed that “the government” killed Nigeria’s former Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige.
Akande made this disclosure while revealing how a friend, Oluwole Rotimi, warned that Ige might die if he resigned from the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Featuring on Edmund Obilo’s podcast, State Affairs, Chief Bisi Akande insisted that Ige did not make a mistake by joining Obasanjo’s administration because he had the blessing of Afenifere and the defunct Alliance for Democracy, AD.
Speaking on Ige’s decision to resign, Akande said: “One evening, he called me and said he was going to resign from this government tomorrow. It was sudden, and I said, ‘Please sir, I will come back to you.’ I called Oluwole Rotimi, and this is what your friend told me: that he was going to resign from Obasanjo’s government tomorrow.
“He asked me to advise him not to resign because if he does, he is likely going to die, he said that to me on the phone. I called Uncle (Ige) and begged him not to resign.
“He said he had talked to Wole Soyinka and Bola Tinubu, and both of them said he should resign. But I said, ‘Don’t. You can go to Obasanjo, tell him what you are angry about, and if he doesn’t want you anymore, here is your letter.’”
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On Ige trusting Obasanjo, Akande said: “Since he was resigning from his government, I think he stopped trusting him.”
When asked who killed Bola Ige, Akande said “I don’t know. He was killed in Oyo State while I was ruling in Osun State. The government killed him (Bola Ige). It was a state murder.
“Lam Adesina, who was the Chief Security Officer of Oyo State then, went to court, and Ladoja withdrew the case from court. He might know more and be able to tell you.
“It was the government that killed him, and the government can kill anybody.
“Obasanjo wasn’t keen about Ige’s death; he was more interested in the stability of himself.”
While reacting to the allegations levelled against him on Monday, the former governor of Oyo State, who also doubles as the Otun Olubadan of Ibadaland, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja threatened legal action against Chief Bisi Akande.
The former Oyo State Governor, Senator Rashidi Ladoja refuted the claims by Chief Bisi Akande regarding his alleged involvement in the unresolved assassination case of former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.
Ladoja stated that he never obstructed justice in the murder case and had provided full support to the prosecution, even up to the Supreme Court.
Ladoja dismissed Akande’s claims, insisting he did not know the case beyond publicly available information.
He warned that he would consider all possible actions, including legal steps unless Akande retracts his statement and issues a public apology.
He said: “Chief Bola Ige was assassinated December 23rd, 2001, I got to government on 29th of May, 2003 which was 18 months after the assassination of Chief Bola Ige.
I didn’t withdraw the case, my government didn’t withdraw any case, the case was even prosecuted till apex court, Chief Akande lied against me, this is not the first time people said he lied, someone like Baba Adebanjo even said he lied in his book.
We are not all happy as a result of Chief Bola Ige’s death, and we are all concerned about his death, I was very close to Chief Bola Ige while alive.