From AKEEB ALARAPE, Osogbo

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Former governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has exonerated himself of any under hands dealing in the trial of suspects arrested in connection with the murder of former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice , Chief Bola Ige.

Ladoja, who featured in a live interview on Reality Television Service, (RTS), Iwo , Osun State, which was monitored in Osogbo yesterday, was responding to the allegation by the National Chairman of the Action Congress (AC), Chief Bisi Akande, that his administration bungled the trial of suspects arrested in connection with the murder of the former minister, which included a serving Senator from Osun State .

Ige was murdered in cold blood on December 23, 2001 at his Bodija Ibadan residence at the peak of the political crisis rocking Osun State then. His assailants were yet to be identified.

In a recent publication in a national daily, Akande accused Ladoja’s administration of bungling the case by entering nolle prosecui when the trial was on, thus making it impossible for the suspects to be prosecuted.

But reacting to the allegation yesterday, Ladoja debunked the allegation, saying the AC boss was trying to play politics with a sensitive issue like the murder of Ige.

“I don’t want people to play politics with serious issues, maybe Chief Bisi Akande was playing politics with this issue. It is untrue that my administration entered into nolle during the trial of the suspects held in connection with the murder of Uncle Bola Ige. The case was tried in an open court and the accused were freed.

“My administration did not interfere with the workings in the judiciary and the legislature. The three arms of government were separate and at the same time they worked together to ensure smooth running of government. Let Chief Bisi Akande understand the true position and stop misinforming the populace about what did not happen during the trial of those held in connection with the murder of Ige,” Ladoja stated.

The former governor, who disclosed his intention to return to Agodi Government House in Oyo State, also took exception to the claim by his former deputy, now Governor of the state, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, that he had a hand in how he (Alao-Akala) was dismissed from the police force.

“If he indeed said so that I had a hand in his dismissal, it is incorrect. I didn’t even know about the case because I was far away in England when he came to see me and said that he had retired; that he decided to take a voluntary retirement. Well, he is my friend and he stayed in my house for weeks. We were going from my house to the office for weeks. There was no time he told me he was dismissed.

“But, when election was coming and I nominated him as my deputy, I got a barrage of protest. People were saying a lot of things but I know politicians. The easiest weapon we have in politics is pull-him-down syndrome. So, I confronted him and told him that this was what people were saying about him, but he said it was not true. I decided to investigate it but unfortunately none of the security agencies was able to assist. I did ask them to confirm to me whether it was true but they were not able to.

“But when I got to the office, the former Inspector General of Police (IGP), now Asiwaju of Ogbomosoland, Chief Sunday Adewusi came to me and warned me to be careful. He said he was responsible for turning Akala’s dismissal to retirement when pressure was mounted on him.

let ur hands be clean as u claim.
somebody was behind the death of this man and somebody is manupulating the nigerian police.
for those who are behind this show of shame, my praayer is that the death of this man will better than ur death.
it is a shameful thing that a serving attorney general of the federation was killed without trace and this goes a long way in showing how safe an ordinary man is in nigeria.

His hands might be clean as he claimed, , but he definitely knew about it, no doubt about that