Last year,2013,in the course of my
research of a prospective book on the the
evolutionary trend and the travails of
Afenifere,the premier pan-Yoruba socio-
political organization,I was in Oshun
State to speak with key actors in the
Afenifere/AD war of attrition that was
mutually destructive for the combatants
on both sides of the divide.There I
'exhumed' Olugbenga Adebayo,alias
Fryo,here with me in this photo
Fryo was the lead actor in the trial of
Iyiola Omisore and some of his caucus
members in the face off between him,as
deputy governor,and his boss,Chief Bisi
Akande, who was the governor.The
immediate cause of the Osogbo debacle
was the resistance of the deputy against
'political marginalization' by the Akande-
led old guards from the days of the Unity
Party of Nigeria (UPN),1979-1983 when
Bisi Akande was a successor deputy to
Chief Bola Ige in the old Oyo State after
the departure of Chief Sunday Afolabi to
the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).In
1999,when AD came on board in the
South-West geo-political zone of
Nigeria,Iyiola Omisore was relatively new
to Afenifere,an Obafemi Awolowo-inspire
d political sensibility.The reality,however
,was that the Ife Prince,who,on the eve of
military departure had his political
structure primed to contest for the
governorship seat of Osun
State,bankrolled the sponsorship of
AD,and provided the financial and
material logistics for the registration of the
party,so much that the Suites used as
secretariat and accommodation at the
Nicon-Noga Hilton hotel in Abuja by Bola
Ige-led committee were paid for by Iyiola
Omisore.Yet,he was successfully
prevailed upon by his Uncle-in-law,Chief
Bola Ige,to drop his governorship
ambition in 1999 to enabled Chief Bisi
Akande had a shot at a post he showed
no inclination for until prodded by Chief
Bola Ige at Afenifere general meeting in
Ijebu-Igbo.And to reaffirmed his
commitment on Akande's 'enforced'
gubernatorial project Omisore endorsed
the #250k initially paid to Afenifere,as his
own declaration of intention fee for
governor,for that of Chief Akande.I should
know because I was a member of the
political committee,Afenifere Think
Tank,a position that guaranteed me a
seat at the Weekly Caucus meeting of the
elders of the group that met at the Ore
Close,Suru-Lere,Lagos residence of Pa
Solanke Onasanya until the group
secretariat at Jibowu was ready.Some of
the members of the Political Committee
were C.O. Adebayo,as Chairman,Prof
Bolaji Akinyemi,Vice Chairman,Ayo
Opadokun,Mrs Ayoka Lawani,Dayo
Adeyeye and Jimi Agbaje who was the
Secretary.And Committee,alongside the
leadership,led by Pa Abraham
Adesanya,was involved in many trouble-
shooting trips to Osogbo with a bid to
obtain a permanent cease fire among the
principal gladiators in the war of
attrition.The rest,as they say,is history.
Fryo was the guy who appeared in a long
white sutana,with a long cross,made of
wood,adorning his neck and holding a
copy of a bible,as he was led into the
venue of a Press Conference in 2002 by
a Lagos-based lawyer,Festus
Keyamo.Keyamo had before then hinted
the world that he knew 'who killed
Ige',then the deputy leader of Afenifere
and Nigeria Minister of Justice,murdered
in his room in his Bodija,Ibadan
residence on Sunday,December
23,2001.At the Keyamo-organized media
brief the world was made to
believe,throught a statement read to
journalists by Fryo,that Iyiola Omisore
was culpable in the killing of Bola
Ige.Thus began the travails of Omisore in
the evil forest of the Nigerian public, more
secured in the rigidity of its orality.Not
even a favorable judgement after some 3
years trial in a court of competent
jurisdiction would stave off mischief
makers from their well-practiced
engagement,especially for crass benefits
of retain partisan politics.Perhaps,there
was more to it than the trial and
judgement revealed in a 488p Certified
True Copy of record of proceedings
which I sought and obtained for my own
education and deduction.Truth is,short of
under-dealings,in a conspiracy,the trial
had no business going beyond 2
weeks,even before a pupil lawyer.Full of
self contradictions by so-called
prosecution witnesses,especially that of
Andrew Olofu,(PW 1),the gateman on the
day and Muyiwa Ige( PW 6), who was
locked up with others inside her mother's
room as the invaders ransacked the
captives for rob able valuables.It was
clear,from record proceedings,that the
whole evidences were cut and
paste,obtained from anyone who could
be shopped to help nail the coffins of
those put on trial before Justice Akin
Apara.And the learned judge was clear in
his 69p judgement when he berated the
prosecution for doing a shoddy
job,narrowing their investigation to a
single place when the man who was
killed had many 'constituencies' that
ought to be examined for possible
clues.The judge did not know the under
current behind the whole expensive
drama,hence his rightful indignation
Thus,when I arrived Osun,in March
2013,I went in search of Fryo for 'proper'
briefing.I finally 'exhumed ' him.As
expected,I was excited when he
consented to meet with me in my hotel
room in Ife,and true to his promise,after
momentary delay,he showed up.We
sized each other up,part of which was his
refusing an offered meal or drink.As a
writer on political subject of contemporary
relevance,I expected him to tell me that
his denial,under oath,that Omisore
contacted him and offered him #5m to kill
Ige was induced and obtained by the
accused.He simply broke down and
asked me to help beg Omisore to forgive
him,as all efforts to see him and ask for
forgiveness,even while they were in
detention has been unsuccessful.I
promised to do my best on his request,but
I also needed to know what led to the
Lagos media show put together by
Festus Keyamo in which he was a lead
actor.He simply reiterated all that was in
his deposition before the court where he
averred that Keyamo to whom he was
taken by his journalist friends when he
saw his name in the papers as a wanted
person for the death of Ige kept him in a
hotel in Lagos for 4 days,prior to his
public appearance,where he doctored
him on how to implicate Iyiola
Omisore.He said he told him he stood to
gain the money put aside by AD
governors for anyone who could unravel
the identity of 'who killed Ige'.
Hitherto,Fryo was a fun loving merry-go
round guy,known to many students of the
Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile Ife,as the
guy who brought in musicians to play on
campus,from where he made his own
agency commission.Thus,from day
one,the police ought to know that the guy
did not possess the 'CV' to qualify him for
a job of a 'hired killer',something that is
also out-sourced,far from the immediate
location of an intended victim.This is
elementary model that ought to have
been reckoned with.You see,in any
conspiracy theory logic is always the first
causality.Truth is,the Fryo I would meet
some 10years later,after the act,and
under 40 in age,still did not have the
swagger.He is your next door
neighbor,even when he combined greed
with nativity,and in the process caused
the suffering of some innocent human
beings who languished in various
detention centers for some 3 years for a
crime they were not remotely connected

Culled from the Prof's facebook page.

Just passing.....

Fryo has aged... I still recall the press conference like it was yesterday, the skull cap, the cross, white gown, and a hitherto unknown Festus Keyamo.

I dnt av interest. Na wen election dey come u go dey exhume forgotten case dey find whose leg u go tie am...

Mtcheeeeewwww!!!

Yoruba people with amala and ewedu for brain with their sophisticated ways of telling lies against an innocent person. Little wonder they made lie lie mohamed their spokes person.

SLIDEwaxie: I dnt av interest. Na wen election dey come u go dey exhume forgotten case dey find whose leg u go tie am...

Mtcheeeeewwww!!!

let it donkey years truth will surely defeat falshood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jqSOzuqK3U&list=UUMQOLBMYxeVLCX3cUWfmbOQ

Ask Baba Iyabo for who killed bola ige.
Uncle bola told him "ati lo".
Next thing he was gone!

Tears and wailing!!!