Late Bola Ige

n a fateful December day in 2001, the shadowy clouds of tragedy enveloped Nigeria as Chief Bola Ige, the nation's Minister of Justice and Attorney General, was struck down in his own sanctuary in Ibadan. Fast forward to the present, and the haunting enigma of his assassination lingers, unsolved and shrouded in mystery even after 23 long years of Nigeria's perpetual wilderness.

As I listen to the heart-wrenching recollections shared by the daughter of the late Chief Bola Ige regarding the nefarious act that claimed the life of this legal titan, I am struck by the powerful incantations from the realm of words—Wole Soyinka will unfurl the fate of those malevolent deed-doers, accomplices, and agents of chaos who violently snuffed out the life of one of our finest, a shining gem in Yorùbáland and Nigeria.

The late Chief Bola Ige, the eloquent Cicero of Esa-Oke, was a brilliant and multifaceted lawyer and a shrewd and gifted politician felled in a brutal act of treachery.

In a nutshell, those who orchestrated his demise have robbed the world of tranquility and joy, now imprisoned in their restless nights. The lineage of their kin will forever wander in disquiet and misery. A meticulous exploration of accounts surrounding the suspects involved in his untimely end reveals the desolation and despair woven into their twilight years—they know themselves! They exist as mere shadows of themselves or become footnotes in the somber annals of Nigeria's history.

Meanwhile, the more they furtively attempt to cloak themselves in the fabric of redemption, grandstanding in political and cultural opportunism, the deeper they sink into the mire of disgrace and ignominy in the eyes of moral masses. I conclude my sore reflections with a poignant statement from our revered literary god and muse, Professor Wole Soyinka, quoting him directly:

‘To the unyielding tyrants, those who believe they possess a divine right to govern, endeavoring to drag a nation into the abyss of misery, you, Ajibola Ige, extended your hand to lift them. They complied.’

‘You elevated them to a realm of fairness, urging them to walk alongside you. Yet they responded, saying they would accompany you but would steer the course. To which you smiled and retorted: I said, take my hand, not my voice. That is the reason for your death, the reason they conspired to extinguish a peacemaker, a champion of the mind, an embodiment of faith in humanity's resilience.’

Professor Soyinka further elaborated: ‘That is why they silenced a statesman who embraced art and creativity as vital to life and community—a living testament to a cultured self. This is why they sought to end the journey of a builder, a navigator through the mazes of societal fractures. Yet hope remains unassailable; the spirit of belief in a brighter tomorrow flickers fiercely within us.’

Kongi's incantations on these agents of malevolence strike true, resonating with profound intent. Our vibrant Professor Wole Soyinka unleashed his critique upon the specters who ruthlessly ended the life of a rising political star and elder statesman. When I stumbled upon news of one of them basking in accolades from sycophants at a book launch, a wave of indignation washed over me. Soyinka aptly described those individuals as 'far-seeing, cunning partners… (Tortoise in the forest of ingratitude, my interpretation of our own WS) whose gleeful presence in gatherings, perpetual in cynicism and triumph,' stultified the midget minds among us who see these killers as demigods.

The killers of late Chief Bola Ige have extinguished the light of slumber and are now haunted by their own sleepless shadows; they will sleep no more! With an unwilling hopelessness, I lament for a nation ensnared in self-delusion, lies, self-deceit, and a guise of hypocrisy.

Nigeria teeters on the precipice of turmoil, cradled in the collective folly of its own third-eye citizens! Sadly, Nigeria and its people are on a barren journey to oblivion—a collective journey to nowhere!

Unequivocally, until those dangling in twilight and the miserable assassins of Chief Bola Ige are brought to justice, Nigeria's woes may threaten to linger indefinitely. Peace and harmony may be difficult to attain in the households of those who enable crimes in Nigeria. Nigeria harbors too many glorified killers with innocent blood on their hands, in its vast sanctuaries of heinous crimes!