A Northern group, Arewa Think Tank (ATT), has backed former Osun State governor, Chief Adebisi Akande, over his claim that former Oyo State governor, Chief Rashidi Ladoja, may have information on the assassination of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, in 2001.
Akande had recently suggested that Ladoja played a role in the withdrawal of Ige’s murder case from court, implying that he might have crucial information regarding the unresolved assassination. However, Ladoja has denied the allegation, dismissing it as baseless and threatening legal action against Akande.
In a statement on Tuesday, ATT’s Chief Convener, Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, said the controversy between the two elder statesmen had opened another opportunity to revisit past high-profile assassinations in Nigeria.
“Arewa Think Tank stands by Chief Adebisi Akande’s narrative. In furtherance of this, we are urging President Bola Tinubu to launch a fresh probe into unresolved assassinations of prominent Nigerians, including those of Harry Marshall and Dokubo, among others, so that justice can be served to their families,” Yakubu said.
The group also claimed that it was during Ladoja’s administration that a nolle prosequi (a legal notice of discontinuance) was filed in Ige’s case, preventing it from reaching the Supreme Court.
“If the case truly got to the Supreme Court, it would be in the public interest to publish the case number and other evidence,” the statement added.
Akande, in a recent interview, had lamented that key figures who could have shed more light on Ige’s murder, such as former Oyo governor Lam Adesina, were no longer alive.
“There are many things that die with people,” he said. “Lam Adesina pursued the case in court, but his successor, Ladoja, withdrew it. If you ask him, he would know more about Bola Ige’s death.”
Akande, who was governor of Osun State when Ige was assassinated, said Adesina, as Oyo’s chief security officer at the time, was in a better position to investigate the case. He, however, noted that some of the discussions he had with Adesina on the matter could not be disclosed.
“Now that Bola Ige and Lam Adesina are both dead, who will be my witness?” Akande said.
But Ladoja, in his response, dismissed Akande’s claims, describing them as false and misleading.
“Chief Bola Ige was murdered on December 23, 2001, while I became governor on May 29, 2003,” Ladoja stated. “Neither I nor my government withdrew the case. It was prosecuted up to the Supreme Court.”
He also referenced Akande’s past statements, saying, “Chief Akande has falsely accused me, and this is not the first time he has been called out for making untrue claims—Baba Adebanjo even noted this in his book.”
Ladoja, who described Ige as a close associate, warned Akande to retract his comments or face legal action.
Ige, a chieftain of the opposition Alliance for Democracy (AD), was appointed Minister of Mines and Power by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 before being reassigned as Minister of Justice in 2000. He was assassinated at his Ibadan residence on December 23, 2001, a case that remains unresolved.