Nigeria’s Unresolved High Profile Killings

Recently, the son of the late Chief Bola Ige, Muyiwa Ige, called on President Bola Tinubu to review the circumstances surrounding his father’s murder, expose the killers and bring them to justice. Chief Ige was killed 24 years ago at his home in Ibadan, Oyo state on December 23, 2001.

Ige’s son, in that appeal to President Tinubu, recounted the harrowing experiences of his father and the unfulfilled dreams that were violently cut short.

Chief Bola Ige was a serving  minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation at the time of his death.

Apart from futile attempts to arrest the alleged  perpetrators and the half-hearted judicial processes, the murder incident is now considered a cold case.

Although the police and authorities made initial headway in the case, the fact that no new arrest was made  based  on new leads and no fresh court processes all these years is proof that the authorities have moved on.

But Bola Ige’s case is not an isolated one. Muyiwa’s appeal has opened a Pandora’s box of unresolved high profile killings since 1999 till date that have obviously been swept under the carpet.

At a book launch recently,, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Kanu Agabi, alleged that criminals often go unprosecuted while the innocent ones are frequently dragged through prolonged legal ordeals in Nigeria.

His comment speak to the sad trajectory of the prevailing situation of Nigeria’s criminal justice system where killings have continued unabated because perpetrators are not brought to book.

In a lecture delivered at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said justice, equity, inclusion, popular participation , peace and security are sin qua non for building viable, strong, dynamic and sustainable economic and social system where every citizen has a sense of belonging.

He added that peace, justice, equity and security must be the pillars for building good governance. Incidentally, Ige was murdered while he (Obasanjo)was in office as President.

These unresolved cases tend to lay credence to suggestions that Nigeria  is degenerating to the brink of a failed state where life is short and brutish irrespective of the social divide.

Nigerians are perturbed that with the high profile nature  of those murdered and the attendant outrage it generated, the  federal government was and still is not provoked enough to hunt down the killers and bring them to justice.

Bringing justice to the killers is not only important to  the family who needs to heal properly from the devastation of losing  their loved ones whose lives were cut short in the prime of their lives but to the nation as well, which needs to send warning to miscreants that  the nation is not rudderless and that there’s a price to pay for every misdemeanor.

This newspaper also recalls the assassination, 21 years ago of Chief Aminasoari Kala (A.K) Dikibo.

He was the Deputy National Chairman, South-South geopolitical zone, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when he was assassinated in broad daylight on the highway on Sunday,  February 4, 2004

Yet again, the Nigeria Police Force or the Department of State Security (DSS) appeared not to be interested in solving the murder.

Marshal Sokari Harry, a former National Vice-chairman (South-South) of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), was also assassinated in Abuja, during the presidential elections in March 5, 2003.

Another politician, Anthony Olufunsho Williams, was found bound, strangled, and stabbed at his home in Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, an exclusive and wealthy neighborhood in Lagos, on July 27, 2006.

He was a former commissioner under Colonel Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s Military Administration in Lagos and at the time of his death, he was hoping to be nominated as the PDP Gubernatorial candidate for Lagos State.

Justice was not served and the killers were not arrested. Unfortunately, Nigeria appears determined to deny those killed and their families the relief they seek.

Its perplexing that with the number of people that have been killed, nobody has been jailed  or in prison for them because the government is not making any attempt to resolve those matters.

We are aware that there is no statute of limitations for murder in Nigeria, meaning that a person can be charged with murder regardless of how long ago the crime was committed.

Unfortunately , this is one of the things causing Nigeria to lose respect in the comity  of nations because of lack of adherence to the rule of law.

And, again, some of the factors responsible  for this Banana Republic syndrome is the  erosion of confidence in the nation’s judicial system and the widening gap  between the government and the governed.

The way these killings were handled sends a wrong message to Nigerians leading to prominent Nigerians advocating reliance on self-defence with its security implications suggesting a failure on the part of government to carry out one of the primary functions of the state which is to protect lives and property.

The widespread perception is that these killings were politically- motivated and instigated by disagreements by political actors. To that extent therefore, it becomes pertinent to overhaul the Electoral system so as to reduce tension as leaders would be elected simply on merit and not by imposition.

Though the National Assembly is considering amending the Electoral Act 2022 yet again, the question is, even after amending it and bringing in more innovations, what about the courts?

In 2022 Electoral Act, we had electronic transmission of votes included  in the guideline which was not explicit and is being exploited by the court.

Will the courts give way to those amendments? The nation needs great leaders who possess clear vision, are courageous, have integrity, honesty, humility and clear focus,

It needs leaders with political will that can address national issues head on, take decisions that will be in the interest of justice.

As a newspaper, we have been in the forefront of calls for judicial reform in a way that will bring back the old era, the golden days of Nigerian judicial system.

These reforms, in our opinion, will create a level playing ground for all participants in the process, reduce acrimonies and ensure justice is not only done but seen to be done. In that light, there will be no disagreements that can lead to deaths by assassinations.