Bola Ige murder: Omisore fires back at Soyinka – Nexus News
All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary Senator Iyiola Omisore yesterday blamed people he depicted as “drowning politicians” of spreading lies against him.
He bewailed that years after the Bola Ige murder case, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka still describe him as a prime suspect, despite being declared free by the court.
Omisore, a former deputy governor of Osun State, stated that it was curious that Soyinka, who blamed the Obasanjo government of being an accomplice in Ige’s death when he depicted the government “as a nest of killers”, could now portray him as a suspect in 2022.
The Nobel Laureate in a press release at the weekend stated that Omisore’s endorsement as APC Secretary by President Muhammadu Buhari would meddle in the judicial investigation into Ige’s death since he is a prime suspect in the murder case.
Objecting the eminent scholar’s statement, Omisore said “it is an unnecessary propaganda some drowning politicians are trying to spread.”
The National Secretary also threatened to sue a political group in Osun APC for fabrication and defamation.
Omisore said “as brilliant as Prof. Soyinka is, no doubt, a monopoly of knowledge.
In a press release by his office, Omisore said: “If the court of the land has vindicated a man, it is naive of him after nearly a decade to link Senator Iyiola Omisore to further search.
He added that “civil and criminal law knowledge should tell professor to ask his cousin, OBJ for the murder.”
Omisore added: “The world is aware of the framing of Senator Iyiola Omisore and his travails and trials facing murder charges and his subsequent acquittal and discharge, almost a decade ago by a competent court of the land.
“So, how come any man can still refer to him as a possible suspect? The Prof is very wrong to say all that. It takes wickedness to spread the statements.”
Omisore reported that despite the fact that not all Soyinka’s intervention in national life has yielded the expected outcome in the long run, society has continued to hold him in high esteem.
He said: “It is part of history and we are not too young, when we read of him, that professor too carried a gun into a Radio station; a criminal offense against the state. Yet, we continue to honor him.
“Can we also forget that Prof was appointed the chairman of the education summit that gave birth to a single uniform for all secondary and primary schools and Opon Imo, during the tenure of Rauf Aregesola as governor of Osun State. A failed Education Policy that history will not readily forget.
“So, at 88, it’s better for him to stay clear of politics and not allow drowning politicians to use him to fight a cause he knows nothing about. It is a subtle warning to the respected Nobel Laureate.
Read Also: Buhari made a mistake on Omisore’s emergence as APC Secretary, says Soyinka
Omisore reminded that in 2004, Soyinka, who was 70, blamed the Obasanjo government of being involved in the death of Ige by referring to the government as a “nest of killers”
He bewailed that, in April, 2022, the Nobel Laureate, who is now 88, is questioning his choice as National Secretary.
He also regretted that Soyinka, once attacked another Yoruba son, Gbenga Daniel, an engineer and former two-term governor of his native Ogun State.
He stressed that the record reveals that he and others were tried for two and half years and later freed and acquitted by the court.
Omisore said: “The recent volte face of Soyinka on the Bola Ige matter gives one a cause for concern. First, I was not a member of cabinet in Obasanjo’s government and second, a court of competent jurisdiction had set me and others free after a grueling two and half years trial with N2 billion damages awarded still unpaid by the state government.
“Besides, why has the Omisore/Bola Ige matter become an issue of campaigns and elections deliberately used by Omisore’s opponents to undermine his influence?
“Or, are some people who are worried by the erudite and strong personality and capacity of Omisore as National Secretary using Soyinka to settle scores or pursue their political ambitions?
“Politics is a game and an avenue to serve and the Nobel Laureate can throw his hat in the ring if he so wishes instead of making unsubstantiated claims and causing confusion here and there, acts that don’t befit his international recognition as an elder and statesman.
