Former Commissioner for Lands and Physical Planning in Osun State, Mr Muyiwa Ige, has said that those behind his father’s death killed him because of sheer envy.
Late Chief Bola Ige, (SAN) former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, was murdered by unknown gunmen at his Bodija, Ibadan home on December 23, 2001.
Ige, who was the Deputy National leader of Afenifere, a pan Yoruba socio- cultural organisation, wasassassinated at age 71.
His son said his assailants shall continually be hunted by their evil deeds.
He spoke in Ibadan during the 90th posthumous birth anniversary of his father, an astute politician and legal luminary, at St. Anne’s Church, Molete, Ibadan on Sunday.
According to him, his late father bequeathed legacies of selfless service, good leadership, integrity, honesty and commitment to the plight of common men to his children and loyalists.
Muyiwa recalled that his father, at age 29, was on the global platform with late Martin Luther King Jnr. in Athens, Ohio in 1959, moving the motion for the blacks to be able to exercise their voting right in America.
He said, “My father really loved young people. He also believed in the emancipation of the common man and elevating young people. A lot of his peers didn’t like him for that because they could not understand the young people.
“But, that was the essence of Bola Ige, and it was part of the envy that ate into the souls of some of those who didn’t like him. Nonetheless, that was their problem. Bola Ige came to this world, did his bit, and his legacy lives on.”
Drawing comparison between the current time and the past, he lamented what he called the gradual slide of good governance in the country.
He noted that against the current reality, politics at the pre-independence and post- independence period was based on Ideologies.
“Now, you can’t even differentiate between A and B. There is cross-carpeting everyday. Consistency is not there.
“We need to go back and study what they did well in their days and ensure that there is vibrant mentoring programme, especially for our youths. There are great leaders out there that we can still point to that can support young people,” he stated.
