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Omisore�s acquittal: Soyinka, Gani, Afenifere, others react
Adebayo Waheed (Ibadan), Festus Owete (Abuja), Tunde Odesola (Osogbo),Emeka Madunagu, Olayinka Oyebode and Semiu Okanlawon
Apex Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Friday rejected the acquittal of former deputy governor of Osun State, Otunba Iyiola Omisore, by an Ibadan High Court, of conspiracy in the murder of former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige.
Afenifere, which Ige served as deputy leader before his murder on December 23, 2001 said it was a shame on the Peoples Democratic Party-led government that it could not unravel the identities of the late minister�s killers.
However, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said the matter was closed unless the prosecution decides to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
The Alliance for Democracy, the Senate, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, former Power and Steel minister, Dr. Olu Agunloye, the Yoruba Council of Elders and Lagos lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, also expressed divergent views on the outcome of the case.
His family, however, declined comments on the matter.
Presiding judge, Justice Akin Sanda, had in the ruling, which lasted three hours and 10 minutes, said that the evidence before the court was insufficient to convict Omisore, who was standing trial on a two-count charge of conspiracy and murder.
He castigated the police for conducting what he described as a �slip-shod� investigation, stating that it failed to examine pertinent issues such as the late minister�s activities as well as the connection of some of his close associates to the murder.
He said: �From the pieces of evidence, the investigation of the police leading to the prosecution of some people is slip-shod and has less to write home about.
�From the above, there are suspects like Bosun, the personal political thug of the former minister, the five suspects mentioned by the former Osun State governor, Chief Bisi Akande, and the Alliance for Democracy/Afenifere connection, the police failed to turn their searchlight to these angles.
�Speculations apart and from the limited areas which the police mapped out as the central focus of their investigation, there are other useful areas to which they ought to have beamed their searchlight,� Justice Sanda said.
NAN reports that Sanda said that none of the 15 prosecution witnesses and seven defence witnesses including Omisore himself gave evidence linking him to the murder.
�What is left is circumstantial. There were a lot of contradictions and inconsistencies in the evidences adduced by the prosecution. All the circumstantial evidences were debunked by the witnesses,� he said. The court also held that the evidence by Omisore that he did not have a one-on-one talk with Gbenga Adebayo alias Fryo at the Hilton Hotel party in Ile-Ife was corroborated by the sixth defence witness who was his orderly, adding that the security lapse in Ige�s house on the day of the murder could not be traced to the accused person.
The judge also recalled that the third and fourth prosecution witnesses, both commissioners of police who led investigations into the murder at different stages, admitted that they did not investigate Omisore because, at the time, he enjoyed immunity as deputy governor.
�If they did not investigate the accused person, their report indicting him was irrelevant,� he stressed. Further indicting the police, the judge said, �on the above pieces of evidence, the investigation of the police leading to the prosecution of some people is slip-shod and has less to write home about.
�This is a very important murder which deserves extreme care and diligence in its investigation such that it ought to have been thoroughly and extensively investigated,� Sanda said.
The judge said that in a case where there was no direct evidence against the accused person, but only the kind of evidence that was called circumstantial, there were two angles to look at it.
He said: �First, the judge will first make up his mind as to the portions of the evidence having been established and when that is clear, the judge must ask himself if that is sufficient proof. Having regard to the myriad of contradictions and inconsistencies in the case of the prosecution and on the totality of the evidence which is insufficient, the charge of conspiracy to murder and murder cannot be sustained.�
�The accused person is hereby discharged and acquitted of conspiracy to murder and murder,� the judge ruled.
Shortly after the court�s ruling, Omisore�s family, political associates and friends went into a wild jubilation.
Reacting to the verdict, Afenifere spokesman, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, said it was �a dent on the administration of criminal justice in Nigeria. It is a shame to criminal justice in Nigeria; it is a big shame on the government. That the attorney-general of Nigeria could be killed and could not get justice, it is a big shame. Well, if we can�t get justice from the law court, we will get everything in the court of God. It is a script that has been acted out. It is not surprising that President Obasanjo had once defended him (Omisore). But it is sad that the judiciary would allow itself to be used to score a political point. You would recall that many judges had withdrawn from the case citing political pressure from higher quarters.�
In direct reference to the judge�s mention of an �AD/Afenifere connection,� in his ruling, Odumakin said �it is necessary to say that there is no nest of killers in Afenifere. The only nest of killers that exists is in PDP. In Afenifere and AD, people disagree over matters but we have never recorded an instance where one would slap the other one, talkless of going ahead to kill.�
AD factional chairman, Senator Mojisoulwa Akinfenwa, in rejecting the ruling, said the matter was not ended as the Peoples Democratic Party was under obligation to expose the killers of the late minister.
Also AD�s director of publicity, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, disagreed with the judge for �accusing the police of not extending their searchlight to Afenifere/AD. To me, that is beyond his brief and it is unbecoming of a judge to say that.�
To Agunloye, who served Ige as special assistant when the latter was minister of Power and Steel, ��we were not looking up to the court. For us, it has always been a case before the court of people with good conscience and before God. Ige did not commit suicide.�
Keyamo, who was a state witness during the proceedings, said he was shocked at the court�s verdict, adding that it fell below expectation.
The family of Chief Bola Ige, maintained indifference to the verdict. None of the family members was in court during Friday�s session.
Ige�s son, Muyiwa, declined to speak with our correspondent when he was accosted at his New Bodija residence in Ibadan. After conferring with his police orderly on our correspondent�s mission, he instructed his driver to move on, waving and smiling as he was being driven away.
The late minister�s younger brother, Sir Dele Ige, could not also be reached for his comments.
There was no family member at Bola Ige�s home at Old Bodija area of Ibadan. Saturday Punch met only two police constables at the place, who said that they had just been posted to keep guard there.
Some persons whom our correspondent met at the house said they were working for Muyiwa and that no family member lived in the house any longer.
Ige�s daughter, Mrs. Funsho Adegbola, told our correspondent that she would not �want to comment on it at all. Oro ti pesi je (I�m dumbfounded).�
The lead prosecution counsel, Chief Debo Akande (SAN), was said to be unavailable when our correspondent called his GSM number on Friday.
A close associate of Soyinka, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, quoted the literary icon as having asked him to react thus: �The court has decided, unless the prosecution decides to appeal. I still believe in the judicial process. As far as I am concerned, that is it.�
Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Senator Tawa Wada, told Saturday Punch that �the law has taken its course. It is a welcome development. It is better for 950 persons who committed an offence to be punished than an innocent soul to be convicted. If an innocent man is punished innocently, then it is bad. No matter how strongly you suspect a person, you should be able to prove that he is guilty. Suspicion cannot replace judicial truth. I have confidence in the judiciary.�
He added that Omisore was free to return to the Upper Chamber as he had been cleared by the court.
Fawehinmi, on his part, said that since the court had given its verdict, the parties had no option but to comply.
YCE�s acting general secretary, Dr. Kunle Olajide, spoke in the same vein, advising that �it has to be respected. The court is the last hope of the commonman and its decision has to be upheld.�
PDP�s vice-chairman (South-West), Chief Bode George hailed the ruling as the victory of truth over emotion.
Osun State commissioner for information, Mrs Remi Wilson, described the court verdict as a watershed for both the judiciary and the political class.
The news of Omisore�s acquittal threw the ancient town of Ile-Ife into a festive mood as scores of its people who had monitored the court�s proceeding by telephone danced and celebrated the outcome.
SATURDAY PUNCH, June 26, 2004
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