Afenifere Leader denies Pestering Tinubu to build his house in Lekki as alleged by Akande, accuses former President Obasanjo of complicity in Bola Ige’s death 19 years ago
Leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenefere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, has accussed President Muhammadu Buhari of reducing his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor of Law, to a “market master.”
Platforms Africa reports that the Nonagenarian said this in an interview with Arise TV, where he reacted to “My Participation,” an autobiography published by former governor of Osun state, Chief Bisi Akande.
Pa Adebanjo also used the opportunity of the interview to also accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of complicity in the murder of Chief Bola ige 19 yeare ago, as he also talked briefly on the accusation made by Akande that he was pestering Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State and a chieftain of the APC to build his house in Lekki.
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Though he said he will address a press conference on Thursday on the matter, he, nevertheless said:
“The only thing I intend to respond to is the question of Tinubu buying a house for me and I will give details of how I paid for my house. That is the one which I will like to comment on, because it will be creating doubts in the minds of people. I will give details about how I built my house and give the details about how he built his own house.
“Akande is only pandering to Tinubu, who is now his benefactor. By the time I reply him, people will know. When I give the details of how I built my own house, I will ask him to give the details of how he built his house in Ila (Orangun) and all the properties he has in Lagos and abroad, he should tell us the source. And that was after he left the government when he was chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and became the apron string of Tinubu. By the time we put all the facts out, people will know. He has asked me to give my source. I will do that and ask the EFCC to verify it. He should give his own and we will leave it to the public to judge.
Asked pointedly if he pestered Tinubu to build his house in Lekki as alleged by Akande, he said, “Not at all. I will give the details of the source of my income on Thursday when pressmen come here. I will give the name of the contractor, the number of the houses I sold, both the one where Ambassador Walter Carrington was attacked by Abacha. I sold it and the other properties I inherited from my mother, I sold them. I will give all those details for verification and then he can react. Truth is constant. There is no reason to cover up. And when I give my own details, I will ask for their own details.”
Blaming Obasanjo for Ige Murder?
The brutal assassination of Chief Bola Ige, former Oyo State governor in the Second Republic, re-echoed again on Tuesday, with the blame put squarely on the doorstep of the government of then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Ige, who was then the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was shot dead on December 23, 2001 at his home in Bodija, Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
Ige, a renowned political and political disciple of Chief Obafemi Awolowo had been estranged from the Afenifere family over the presidential primaries of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which was won by Chief Olu Falae.
Till date, nobody has been convicted over the brutal killing.
Revisiting the issue on Tuesday in an interview with Arise Television, Chief Adebanjo said Obasanjo cannot claim innocence in the matter.
“There is no doubt that we put the blame on the government of the day where the Chief Law Officer of the country with six security officers surrounding him was assassinated,” Pa Adebanjo said.
Conversations around the assassination of Bola Ige came to the fore again because of comments Chief Bisi Akande, former governor of Osun State and a political protégé of Ige, made in his autobiography, “My Participations,” which was presented to the public in Lagos last week.
In his book, Akande accused the Obasanjo administration of reluctance in the pursuit of Ige’s killers.
Adebanjo, who is politically estranged from Akande, agreed with him but also reminded the former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that at the time of the assassination, fingers of blame were also pointed at leaders of Afenifere.
Said he: “Let Akande search his conscience now that he is thinking of who might have done it. Out of spite at that time, he was accusing the leaders of Afenifere to be responsible for the death of Bola Ige. Even on the day that Ige was buried, through the inspiration of his friends, those who were dancing at the grave of Bola Ige were referring to us – myself, Papa Abraham Adesanya, Ganiyu Dawodu, Olanihun Ajayi instead of looking inwards out of spite to disgrace us.
“Now the truth is coming out. There is no doubt that Obasanjo and his government cannot claim innocence in the death of Bola Ige. Nobody is disputing that. And as far as we are concerned, Obasanjo has a lot of questions to answer on that because I don’t understand how the Chief Law Officer of the country, with six security people guarding him every time, all leaving his house as at the time the assassins came, saying they were going to eat.”
Adebanjo also reminded Nigerians that it was not only Ige that was killed in that era. “At that time, to be candid, a lot of questionable deaths happened during the regime of Obasanjo. That is a question for Obasanjo’s government to answer.”
