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| Bola Ige |
SPECIAL REPORT:
OSDF: What is your involvement in the crisis that rocked Osun chapter of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Year 2001?
ADEKOJO: Since the time of the old Oyo State, I have been an active participant in progressive politics, first as the Organising Secretary of defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and later Political Secretary to our great leader, Chief Bola Ige, while he was the governor of Old Oyo State. In 1999, when we transformed into the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the party resolved to put in place a disciplinary machinery to checkmate erring members of the party and I was considered to head the Disciplinary and Arbitration Committee across the nation, first in acting capacity and later, I was confirmed as the substantive chairman of the committee. Osun was the state where we witnessed a very tough and ridiculous crisis throughout the history of AD. The crisis reached its peak in 2000, when the then Deputy Governor, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, organized various groups in the party and among the State House of Assembly members to initiate impeachment process against the then governor, Chief Adebisi Akande.
When it was obvious that Omisore’s groups have lost all senses of sanity by initiating various litigations against the party and the governor and at the same time organizing various groups to disrupt government programmes and party activities, the then party chairman, Chief Olajire Aikulola, formally complained to my committee after various efforts to curtail the excesses of Omisore and his groups in destroying the government and the party failed. He wrote my committee and we invited all the concerned parties. During our interaction, we observed that Omisore was so desperate to become the governor and during a meeting at Nicon Hilton Hotel, Abuja, I strongly advised Omisore to allow Governor Bisi Akande, who was performing excellently that time, to allow him complete his two terms and contest if he so wished, convincing him that what we needed mostly that time was the development of the state that had been destroyed by the long stay of the military.
I told him to cooperate with a man of honesty, a man of integrity, who loves him, cooperate with a man that was advised by the party hierarchy to deal with you and refused to deal with you. That Year 2007 will soon come and you will have your time. I never knew that he had already made up his mind and concluded his plan to contest for the governorship seat. It was later that I got series of complaints from Osun that he was unyielding. He continued causing serious crisis by using money and force to impeach the governor. He infiltrated the House of Assembly, which led to a division. The crisis took most of my time. At times, I would meet Omisore in Ile-Ife, or in Abuja to resolve the crisis. After he failed in his impeachment bid, he moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It was that time we knew that the PDP gave him serious assignment to destabilise the AD with a promise that he would be supported to realize his ambition in the PDP.
We confronted him with the allegations, he was unable to deny and he offered a negotiation that if we wanted him to stop the crisis, we should prevail on Chief Bisi Akande to concede the AD governorship ticket to him in 2003 and I told him it was impossible. Governor Akande was performing and no reasonable party like AD will stop such governor from recontesting, but he was just so desperate to become the governor by hook and crook. On 12th of December, 2001, I got a letter from the state secretariat of AD signed by the Chairman, Chief Olajire Aikulola, which contained serious allegations against Omisore. Omisore and his group also made false allegation against party members that they wanted to poison them, which was later discovered to be a frame-up. They also accused Chief Bisi Akande of attempting to poison them, and secondly they filed a litigation against the state governor on behalf of the state executives members of the party at a Federal High Court in Ibadan, whereas there was nowhere the state executives discussed such matter. Omisore and others falsified the consent of the state executives, which caused serious embarrassment to the party.
The third allegation was that they constituted parallel party executives in all the ward and encouraged disobedience and undermining the party authority with intent to distabilise the party. The fourth allegation was that they held meetings with leadership of the PDP with the intent to present Omisore as 2003 gubernatorial candidate of the PDP. As at then, he was still a card-carrying member of AD. They also alleged that Omisore groups were planning to put AD into disrepute, as they were also planning unrest in the party by eliminating some leaders. They were also alleged to have been heavily funded by the PDP. The party state executive, in line with Article 16, rules 3 and 4 of the party, then suspended Otunba Iyiola Omisore, Jelili Adesiyan, Kunle Alao and four others indefinitely. The terrible aspect of the allegation was that they were planning to eliminate our leader, Chief Bola Ige, the then Governor Bisi Akande, the Secretary to the State Government, Engineer Sola Akinwumi, the then Commissioner for Finance, Lere Adebayo, and then Commissioner for Works, Barrister Niyi Owolade. When we investigated most of the allegations, it was confirmed to be true and we left with no option than to excuse them from the party, thus, they were expelled from the party.
OSDF What was Chief Bola Ige’s connection with the crisis?
ADEKOJO: Chief Bola Ige was the national leader of the party and was from the state. During our findings at the committee, we found that Bola Ige was the principal target of the PDP and Omisore. He was advised that without eliminating Bola Ige, it will be practically impossible for him to be the governor, even after they might have reserved the PDP ticket for him. Apart from this, Bola Ige made Omisore the Deputy Governor. Omisore had wanted to be governor since 1998, but after the Afenifere meeting in Ijebu-Igbo, where it was resolved that the Afenifere leaders in every state in the South West should be considered as the governorship candidates of AD in their various states, and that where the party members disagree, they should conduct primaries. The situation was however different in Osun. Chief Akande was the Afenifere leader and was endorsed by the party leaders and members. He also got the blessing of Bola Ige, since 1998. Ige was in control of the party machinery and it may be difficult for anybody to become the governor of Osun without the blessing of Ige.
Also, when Bola Ige noticed the desperation of Omisore as early as 2001, he invited Omisore for a discussion and appealed to him not to contest against Chief Akande in 2003 election. We also reported some of the allegations leveled against Omisore and his group to Chief Bola Ige, he made several efforts to prevail on Omisore and his groups but they had separate plans. It was during the findings of the Disciplinary and Arbitration Committee, that we confirmed that they were given serious assignment by the PDP to destabilized the AD in the South-West. At a stage, whenever we invited them to answer questions, they would not honour our invitation but to fulfill all righteousness, I would still go after them to meet them either in Osogbo or Abuja. It was later discovered that the PDP had given them about N3 billion to carry out the assignments. When we confronted them with the allegations, they denied, but it was found to be true. The fund tore them apart, as they started fighting one another on how to share the fund. The crisis distabilised their camp, which led to the death of Honourable Odunayo Olagbaju.
The information we got was that Olagbaju was in-charge of the money given to them from Abuja and some of them were not comfortable with the manner he was sharing the fund. They launched deadly attacks on another and later the fund was kept in custody of Jelili Adesiyan. It was after that process that Olagbaju was killed in cold blood. They used that fund for several violent attacks and the assassination of Chief Bola Ige. Adesiyan, who was very close to Chief Bola Ige was used to gather intelligence on how to assassinate Bola Ige. His house in Ibadan was even used as a meeting point, as his house was very close to Bola Ige’s house.
OSDF : What Was the relationship between Adesiyan and Chief Bola Ige?
ADEKOJO: I knew Adesiyan when he was with Chief Bola Ige. He was one of the young chaps loved by Uncle Bola. Uncle Bola restored his hope and life when he was deported from abroad, when he wanted to commit suicide. Uncle Bola since then was taking care of Adesiyan and in 1999 when AD took power in the South West. Uncle Bola nominated him to be working with Omisore as one of his aides. Later, I don’t know what informed his decision to withdraw him from Omisore. He later nominated him to Alhaji Lam Adesina, the then Oyo State governor, perhaps to be closer to his family, as his family was living in Ibadan then and when Uncle Bola told him of his intention to swap him, he pleaded with Uncle Bola to allow him continue with Omisore and Uncle Bola told him that since he was comfortable in Osun, he should remain there. He later appealed to Uncle Bola to talk to Lam Adesina to be awarding contracts to his wife. Uncle Bola accepted the request and Oyo State government was awarding various contracts to Adesiyan’s wife. He was made by Chief Bola Ige. He was very close to him and knew much about Uncle Bola and some of us who were political aides to Uncle Bola also loved Adesiyan. He could confidently talked about the map of Uncle Bola’s house and understood his lifestyle.
OSDF: How can you substantiate the claims that Omisore was responsible for the assassination of Chief Bola Ige?
ADEKOJO: The circumstances that surrounded the assassination of Bola Ige was so clear and quote me anywhere, Omisore and his group killed Uncle Bola. When we were investigating the allegations leveled against them, including their romance with the PDP, receiving an amount worth N3 billion to distabilise AD and eliminate some of our leaders, including Uncle Bola, we confronted them and it was established that they meant the threat, and that the assignment was heavily-funded. It was in public knowledge, how Omisore and his group embarrassed Uncle Bola in Ile-Ife and his threat to kill him.
Apart from all these facts, few days before his assassination, I got the information that they wanted to kill Uncle Bola. I received an anonymous call that they wanted to kill Uncle Bola and that they were coordinating the assassination at a building very close to his residence in Bodija, Ibadan. I requested the identity of the person, who phoned me but he refused, but urged me to inform Uncle Bola to be careful and not to rely on the security around him. I was so disturbed, few hours later that person called me back and I pleaded with him to meet me and that I will reward him for the information, he refused and told me that he was only volunteering the information because I had assisted him in the past.
I was so afraid, to confirm the information. I went spiritual, by observing ablution and did Istiara (spiritual way of finding truth by Muslims) and during the prayer, it was revealed to me. I saw blood and the security surrendering their weapons. It was confirmed to me during that prayer that they wanted to kill Uncle Bola. I rushed to his residence very early in the morning he was not at home, they said he went to Lagos to pick his elder brother who fell sick, I demanded to see his wife, Justice Atinuke Ige. They told me she was sleeping, after she woke up, she attended to me and I narrated the issue to her on the mysterious call I received and what I saw in my prayer. His wife was so shocked and told me to wait for him.
Later, I was told that if he was coming from Lagos, he would not come home directly but would go to his brother’s house, Uncle Dele Ige. At the residence of Uncle Bola, I saw guilt boldly written on the faces of the security team. I was asking for them one after the other, but they either told me one went to market or just strolled out. It was obvious that they had compromised the security. I could not hold it, I moved straight to his brother’s house to wait for him. I met his brother and also narrated the information to him and told him that they had already compromised the security. I told him to talk to Uncle Bola, so that we could change the security immediately and arranged for private security. He told me to wait for Uncle Bola. Few hours later, Uncle Bola came and he went inside with his brother. I was later invited to narrate the information again, but Uncle Bola told me it was not possible that no one could assassinate him, only if God wished.
I was so furious and agitated. I told him that they had compromised the security. He told me to relax and forget about it that he was protected by God, that if the whole world wanted to kill him and God said no, it will be impossible and if the whole world were protecting and God say yes, no one could stop them. He later went inside with his brother and told me that what was important to him was how to take his sick brother to the hospital. Despite what he said, I was still insisting and they sent me on an errand to go and give Christmas Turkey to Chief Arisekola Alao and then Oyo State Governor Lam Adesina and told me to meet him in Esa-Oke for the Christmas celebration.
For the first time, I disobeyed him. He went inside with his brother and I don’t know what they discussed. He later came out and entered his car. I stopped his car and still insisted that there was urgent need to arrange for private security and warned him that the information was true because I was so confident. He frowned at me and threatened to punish me if I mention the issue again. He drove out and I went to deliver the message he sent me. On 23rd of December 2002, Uncle Bola was assassinated.
OSDF: After the assassination, did you volunteer any information to the security agents?
ADEKOJO: Yes, I did and even promised to testify against anybody. I equally granted interview to journalists on what I knew about the assassination of Uncle Bola. Even later, Omisore invited me and warned me not to grant any interview on the matter. He equally offered N50 million bribe not to say anything on this matter and I told him that I could not sell my conscience, especially, on a man that had shown me love and assisted me to become something in life, Uncle Bola was my mentor in politics, he also promised to take me to the presidency for juicy appointment, but I rejected all this offer.
(Source: Osun Defender)
