BY LEKE ADESERI & GBENGA OLARINOYE

…as Osun PDP, ACN trade words over pardoned convicts

There are two sides to a coin and as the saying goes; a man’s meat may be poison to another. So, when the government of Osun state under the leadership of the indefatigable Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola granted amnesty to the four convicts in the murder case of a former member of the Osun state House of Assembly, Hon Odunayo Olagbju who was assassinated 10 years ago, the leading opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, cried foul condemning the action of the government.

The background

The former Attorney General of the Federation, Bola Ige, an erstwhile Alliance for Democracy, AD, member serving under the ruling party PDP government, was murdered in cold blood in his home on December 23, 2001.

This was about a week or so after a mob fiasco lifted his cap during a visit to his friend, the Ooni of Ife, installed by Ige during his governorship about a decade earlier. Ige was humiliated while participating in the chieftaincy investiture of the wife of another friend of Ige, then President Olusegun Obasanjo.

This shameful event may or may not have led to the vicious hacking to death a few days later at Ile-Ife of Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju, a political friend of Iyiola Omisore.

There were allegations that Olagbaju was responsible for the humiliation of Ige at the Ooni’s palace. The means and motives for Ige’s death have since been established for all the arrested suspects, and the opportunity established for some of them.

After much dallying, the prime suspect, the then Deputy Governor of Osun state, Omisore wais finally impeached (thereby stripping him of the odious 1999 Constitution’s Section 308 immunity) and promptly jumps ship from the opposing AD party (Ige’s party) to the ruling PDP party (Obasanjo’s party).

Omisore was arrested December 27, 2002 at Aso Rock following a trick invitation to meet some top dignitary/dignitaries there.

While in prison, and despite initial feeble protestations by otherwise honorable PDP Chairman Audu Ogbeh about its inappropriateness, Omisore became a Senatorial candidate for PDP in Ijesha/Ilesha constituency, a constituency that in any case insisted on Omisore or no one else as its PDP candidate.

Aregbesola and Oyinlola - opposition leader

On April 12, 2003, Omisore won the seat by a wide margin against the incumbent AD seat holder – all from detention! There were even rumors that Omisore won the plurality of votes at Esa Oke, Chief Bola Ige’s home town. Even if he didn’t, he won the constituency that includes Ige’s hometown.

Current developments

As a quick reminder the political crisis in Osun state then started in 2001 after the botched attempt by the state House of Assembly to impeach the then Governor of the state, Chief Bisi Akande. The impeachment process was said to have been allegedly sponsored and masterminded by chief Akande’s deputy, Otunba Iyiola Omisore who was said to have wielded enormous power in the House of Assembly.

On the day set aside for the impeachment of Chief Akande in the house, only 25 of the 26 members of the house participated in the voting exercise with 13 members against the impeachment while the remaining 12 members were in support.

Since the impeachment move failed, the house did not witness peace. During one of its sittings the crisis in the house reached its peak as proceedings were disrupted as members threw decorum into the wind and it was not surprising that members engaged themselves in fisticuffs , throwing dangerous weapons at each other, forcing the house to suspend sittings indefinitely.

On December 19, 2001, Hon Odunayo Olagbaju (aka Misty) who was the arrow head of the Omisore’s camp was murdered at a social joint in his home town of Ile-Ife and a week earlier, the then Attorney General of the federation and Deputy Leader of the Alliance for Democracy, which was in government in the state Chief Bola Ige was publicly assaulted in palace of the Ooni of Ife .

The political crisis in the state could not be resolved as things got messier by the day and on December 23, 2001; Chief Ige was eventually murdered at his Bodija, Ibadan residence in the presence of his family members.

Those who were arrested in the murder case of Chief Bola Ige including Otunba Iyiola Omisore who was elected as Senator representing Ife/Ijesha senatorial district from prison have since regained their freedom courtesy of no case submission entered by the Oyo state government.

With ACN taking over government from the PDP in Osun state, the release of the four convicts in the murder of Olagbaju should not come as a surprise to any discernable mind but the PDP roundly condemned the action of the government.

A statement issued by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Barrister Funmi Lamuye in Osogbo stated that the party was shocked to learn that the state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola had granted pardon to the convicts as part of activities marking his one year in office.

The state government in defending its action said that state pardon was granted to the convicts based on the recommendation of the state Advisory Council on Prerogative of mercy adding that governor is constitutionally empowered to grant pardon as he has followed due process.

The state government through the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon said “the governor gave pardons to those deserving based on recommendations from the advisory council which comprises of men and women of honour. The prison authorities also wrote to confirm that the people were of good behaviour and deserving of the good gesture, there are documents to confirm this.”

The PDP statement reads in parts : “We wish to condemn in its entirety the decision of the Rauf Aregbesola administration to free convicts that confessed to have played parts in the assassination of Late Odunayo Olagbaju “Misty”.

“While the State Chapter of The PDP agrees that the Governor reserves the right to free prisoners, it is rather suspicious the kind of interest the ACN government has in the case of those that willingly confessed to have killed the vibrant legislator, who represented Ife Central State Constituency between 1999 and 2001.

“The recent action of the Rauf Aregbesola administration has confirmed suspicions that Odunayo Olagbaju, though of the Alliance for Democracy stock, was murdered for his people- centered stance.

“It is another pointer to the fact that, under the so-called exercise of prerogative of mercy power is a murder-supporting motive.

“The assassination of Late Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju 10 years ago is still fresh in the memories of the people of Ile-Ife and democracy supporting Osun people.

“It leaves much to be desired for any government, person or group to openly show sympathy to those who confessed to his killing and were duly convicted.

“The Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State wants Mr. Rauf Aregbesola and his National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande to search their conscience, (if they have any,) what would their families have done if they were in Olagbaju’s shoe.

“The PDP wants to ask on what grounds the ACN governor granted amnesty to the said self-confessed murderers?

“At this juncture, the PDP is beginning to feel that the Rauf Aregbesola government will not only continue Chief Akande’s reign of terror but will surpass his records, especially with the recall of certain personalities who played prominent roles in the violence of that era.”

In its own reaction, the state chapter of the ACN described the statement credited to the state chapter of the PDP on the exercise of the constitutional right of Governor Rauf Aregbesola on the release of some purported self confessed participants in the assassination of Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju as irrational.

A statement by the party’s Director of Publicity and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, a lawyer, said: “There is nothing sensible in the statement by the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Osun state condemning the exercise of the constitutional prerogative of mercy that Governor Rauf Aregbesola made recently in the release of some purported self confessed participants in the assassination of Hon. Odunayo Olagbaju.”

The statement reads in part “It is a good thing that PDP itself acknowledges the fact that Governor Aregbesola has the constitutional power to do what he did. However, the ignorance of the PDP regarding the processes undertaking before the decision was made, it was impossible for the party to appreciate the maturity that went into the taking of that decision to free those people in the first instance.”

“The Governor took his time, if the PDP is to be informed to set up an amnesty committee which looked at the individual cases before making their recommendation. It is on the basis of their recommendation that the Governor exercised his prerogative of mercy to pardon the convicts.

“The PDP as a political party is notorious for bypassing expert recommendation of the committee it set up on its own and instead take decision which has nothing to do with the recommendation of such committees.

“We are not surprised therefore that the PDP feels embarrassed when people of integrity act in a way that is unnatural for the PDP. There is nothing in the federal constitution on this issue that should disturb anybody who thinks rational. However, we know from experience that rational thinking does not appear to be a part of PDP’s political style. We are therefore not surprised about their statement,” ACN added.