Justice Movement, a non-governmental organization, has urged the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to reopen the case of the death of a previous justice minister and AGF, Chief Bola Ige.
The demand comes as Omisore was among those who followed former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, last week to urge members of the ruling party in the National Assembly for the ex-presidential governor’s ambition.
Omisore is also rumoured to be the Tinubu camp’s nominee for the position of APC Secretary, as the party elects a new National Working Committee at its national convention on Saturday.
Justice Movement is now urging Malami and Baba to focus on the roles allegedly played by a former Governor of Osun State, Iyiola Omisore, in the murder, threatening that it would sue the minister and the police boss if they failed to revisit the case within seven days.
The Justice Movement made the call in a statement issued by its Secretary, Olalekan Olusola, on Monday and titled ‘Group Calls on AGF, IGP to Revisit Probe of Omisore on Bola Ige’s Murder.’
Ige was assassinated at his Bodija residence in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on December 23, 2001, by some gunmen.
The group noted that it has been over two decades since Nigeria lost “one its pride” and “sadly, it appears this high profile case would go into the list of unresolved murders if urgent steps are not taken to allay our fears.”
Justice Movement recalled that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had in 2016 directed that the case be revisited.
The statement read in part, “It is frustrating that six years after Mr President’s directive, nothing has been heard about the case.
“We want the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Inspector-General of Police to beam their searchlight on the matter, with emphasis on the role played by Chief Iyiola Omisore in the events leading to the death of our elder statesman.
“It is a travesty that those suspected of culpability in the murder have been walking freely while dancing on the grave of the respected sage.
“We are by this statement issuing a seven-day ultimatum to both AGF and IGP to do the needful or be dragged to court. We will seek an order of mandamus compelling the AGF and IGP if they refuse to revisit the matter after seven days.”
Omisore had described the plan by the Federal Government to revisit the killing of Ige as a welcome development.
Omisore, in a statement issued by his Media Director, Diran Odeyemi, on July 19, 2016, had however advised the FG to revisit the killing of a Lagos State governorship candidate, Funso Williams; and a member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Odunayo Olagbaju.
While the ex-governor, who stated that he was in support of the calls for the case to be revisited, had asked that other high-profile killings should be revisited to show that the move was not targeted at political opponents.
The statement read in part, “The decision of the Federal Government to revisit the killing of the former Minister of Justice and a political icon, the late Chief Bola Ige and Chief Dokubo is good and welcome development.
“I am particularly happy that a fresh investigation will further exonerate me and others who were wrongfully framed up and suffered untold hardship before we were finally acquitted and discharged by the court.
“The Federal Government and the Inspector-General of Police should widen the scope of their investigations to all areas rather than limiting themselves to a particular area or section.
“The Federal Government should extend its search towards unraveling the killers of the late Funso Williams and Odunayo Olagbaju, just to mention a few. The Federal Government and the IG should widen the scope of their investigations to all areas rather than limiting themselves to a particular area or section.”
Ige’s son, Muyiwa, had said in 2015 that the case would be revisited.
He said, “We know the killers, they are still out there walking, but sooner or later the killers will be found. Once we have a sensible government in power we will fish out the (Bola Ige’s) killers.
“I thank God that, come May 29, a sensible government will take over. When we have a government that believes in the rule of law, we are going to push for the case to be reopened. Right now, the prime suspect has no power base.
“They are never made governors, they are not senators. We are going to reopen the case and hopefully, justice will prevail.”