political theorist, philosopher, widely considered
one of Rome’s greatest orators and prose stylists.
His name was Marcus Tullius Cicero who lived
between (January 3, 106 BC and December 7, 43
BC) Cicero is generally seen as one of the most
versatile minds of Roman culture and his
writings, the paragon of classical Latin. He
introduced the Romans to the chief schools of
Greek philosophy and created a Latin vocabulary.
We learnt his childhood dream was “Always to be
the best and far to excel the others.” No wonder
when he started his career as a lawyer around
83-81 BC, he successfully defended Sextus Roscius
on a charge of parricide, which of course, was an
indirect challenge to the dictator, Emperor Sulla,
at that time and he had to travel to Athens with
his brother and cousin, perhaps due to the
potential wrath of Emperor Sulla.
Why are we celebrating Marcus Cicero today? It
is because he shared most of the sterling qualities
with our own Uncle Bola Ige, popularly called
“The Cicero” of Esa-Oke, considering his
education background and profession as an astute
lawyer, elder statesman, administrator, seasoned
politician, educationist and undisputable leader of
thought.
However, sad enough, both men were murdered…
Perhaps, the only difference is that the power
that be, that killed Marcus Cicero pride about it
and even displayed his decapitated body for the
people to see in that part of the world at that
time taking a final revenge against Cicero’s power
of speech while those who planned and killed our
own “Cicero” are still hiding. The big question
still, is who were those responsible for that
cowardly act by killing Bola Ige on December 23,
2001 in his home at Ibadan? Life could indeed be
an irony. This is the same Ibadan where he lived,
served, developed when the opportunity came
having being popularly elected as the first
executive civilian Governor of the old Oyo State.
This same Ibadan happened to be the seat of
power, being the capital of the old Oyo State.
It was said that when the title “Cicero” was given
to honour Bola Ige by the people of Esa-Oke, his
home town, because of the inherent traits he
shared with Marcus Tullius Cicero of Rome, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, the late sage, was not too
comfortable with the title because of the way the
power-that-be at that time killed Marcus Tullius
Cicero. And most disheartening he was killed on
our own soil though far away from Rome. Then,
not only did political parties monitor governors
elected under their platforms, even the governed
were given the opportunity to evaluate the
performances of their governors. Today, state
parties hardly tell you their mission and only
busy themselves in how to rig elections, crush
any opposition and kill opponents depending on
the level of desperation.
Prior to the assassination, Ige was guest of His
Royal Highness, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the
reigning Ooni of Ife and it was widely reported
that some miscreants (apparently being sponsored
by those who hated him) reportedly removed his
cap and hung it on a tree in the palace area. One
begins to wonder what has become of our society.
What an irony! Years back, and precisely in 1980
at the same venue, the man, Uncle Bola Ige, was
the centre of attraction as governor holding out
the staff of office to the king-elect then during
the installation and coronation.
I think it is not too late for the police to start a
thorough investigation from that angle. This to
me should be acceptable as a careful thought
with a view to unraveling the assassination and
bring to book the killers now that we seem to
embrace the rule of law in the country. It is only
when the killers are caught that we can be
talking of prosecution. And with the zeal of the
Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, he
should be challenged to come out with something
that will cleanse the shame of a nation, that a
sitting Attorney General of the Federation was
that murdered in his home and more than seven
years after, the nation is still groping in the dark.
Most Nigerians share the belief that the Nigerian
Police is capable if it chooses to come out with
the expected result.
Of course, the Obasanjo administration did not
help the police in that at the tail end of its
tenure, it was widely reported that the former
president at a gathering quickly admitted that
one faceless drug baron which the then Ministry
of Justice was planning to probe was responsible
for the cowardly act. And because you cannot put
something on nothing, on October 24, 2007, the
court ordered the release from the Agodi Prison
in Ibadan of the accused as advised by the state
prosecution for want of evidence as usual and
one cannot blame the defence lawyer boasting to
even sue the Federal Government for damages
while the real damage to the nation still looms
and crime committed still unravelled.
Some schools of thought believe that if Ige had
remained in his self-styled “siddon look” posture
at that time and not joined the Obasanjo
government, he may still be alive or at worst, he
may not have been slaughtered the way they did.
In any case, death could also have come due to
old age. Some of us also believe that his joining to
serve at all under Obasanjo’s regime was a silent
revolution or protest from the way and manner
his party presidential primary at that time was
conducted. No political reasoning could really
explain the “wedlock” considering the events of
the past and even in the present circumstances.
Could it be considered that he went too far to
have opted to serve under the Obasanjo’s regime?
However, as patriotic as he was to serve his
fatherland when he was invited, should not in
any way make him one of the high profile
political killings that will be swept under the
usual sealed marble forever.
Sometime ago, one high ranking police officer
told the whole world that investigation could
begin on any case if there are new findings, clues
or trails but that it was “capital intensive”. This
sounds comforting but not encouraging because
the Nigerian economy is still strong enough to do
more than unravelling this particular murder
case with a view to bringing the killers to book.
The police should be told that Nigerians deserve
to know who killed “Uncle Bola Ige” as we used
to call him then and of course, a host of others
killed in similar circumstances for the sake of
posterity and justice. More importantly, to prove
to the world that we are able not only to detect
crime but to carry out justice in the most
civilised way as being done around the globe.
I hope the police understand very well that a
murder case in every clime is not statute-barred,
which means the case cannot be closed at any
given time. Issues of note are many in this
particular case and that is why time cannot
sweep it away so quickly. The idea is that this
nation must not allow the unborn generation to
taunt us that a democratically elected government
was unable to find the murderers of a former
Attorney-General of the Federation. It is now 13
years after the murder and the nation is still
waiting and seems hopelessly counting.
In fact, there is not even any hope for the
common man when notables and nobles are
being killed and nothing happens. My worry is
that our children would found it really difficult to
comprehend. By all means, Nigerians deserve to
know who killed our own “Cicero”
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