Why the Presidency Has Appointed a Murder Suspect As Minister?

The family of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Chief Bola Ige, who was murdered at his home in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, in December, 2001, said that his killers will not find peace.

Muyiwa, son of late Chief Bola Ige, said the family was disappointed by President Goodluck Jonathan’s appointment of Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan, a suspect in Ige’s murder, as the Minister of Police Affairs.

Alhaji Jelili Adesiyan and Senator Iyiola Omisore were suspects in the murder, but the case was quashed years later by an Oyo State High Court.

In Lagos at the weekend, Ige's son spoke at a media parley organised by the National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Muiz Banire.

Ige's son said that "somebody like Adesiyan" would not be nominated, in the first instance, let alone approved by the National Assembly.

Muyiwa added that the appointment of the minister was more of selection and not of Omoluwabi structure. He mentioned that it is also the first time in Nigeria’s history that three senators from Osun State unanimously rejected the candidate.

Ige's son still calls Omisore the prime suspect because they put him in the same cell with their star witness and when they cross-examined him (the star witness) later, he recanted. "When you put the prime suspect with the star witness in the same cell at Alagbon, definitely something will happen," Muyiwa said.

"Adesiyan’s claim that he was my father’s boy is not true. If he was, he would not have supported an assault on my father or worked with the prime suspect in the trial. Why did he vacate his home with his family after the murder?

"The suspects are now suing us because they were acquitted. They are asking the state and me for N20 billion. The truth of the matter is that they will forever be haunted by Bola Ige’s spirit. They continue to attempt to dance on his grave as Wole Soyinka analysed, but by the grace of God, the truth will be revealed," Muyiwa added.

Ige's son continued: "Adesiyan is working for the president, but he is not representing us in Osun State."

On the probability of using Adesiyan to undermine the conduct of free and fair elections in Osun and Ekiti states, Muyiwa said: "It smacks of a strategy to do something with the election coming up in Ekiti and Osun. They have been saying that the Osun and Ekiti elections are preliminaries to the 2015 general elections.

"With the performance of Governors Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), it will be difficult for them to do anything funny. We know they want to make it a do-or-die affair, but we are on the alert. That is why we must sensitise the citizenry."