Bola Ige: Our Last ‘Supper’
Not long ago, we were admitted into the knowledge that Chief James Ajibola Ige, SAN, ( Best known as Bola Ige), former Attorney-General and Justice Minister, in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency, brutally murdered in his Ibadan residence in 2001, was posthumously remembered and celebrated during his 90th birthday. He was born on September 13, 1930. Precisely, Bola Ige, a man of several parts, was killed on 23 December, 2001; an eminent patriot who would have impacted this troubled country immensely had he been alive today. The naked truth, however, as we already know, is that our wish that he lived beyond age ninety has become a mutilated desire and an impossibility.
As just said, Bola Ige was a man and personage of several parts, who clearly was positively myriad-minded. He was an orator, a lawyer, a politician, a newspaper columnist, an author who wrote People, Politics and Politicians of Nigeria; an autobiographer who wrote Kaduna Boy and Detainee’s Diary respectively as well as a scholar of classics. He prepared himself adequately for his chosen profession and vocations.
Why are we now thinking of this great man who will always be numbered among the most important individuals and heroes of our country? Since 2001, and since 23 December of that year after the untimely death of this notably charming character of a highly qualitative mind, we have been likening our minds to a lachrymatory. We were among the few people, outsiders and strangers outside his immediate family and close associates and his late wife who, we believe, probably had intimate and prolonged discussions with him before his murder.
Maybe memory is failing us, or, maybe we are failing our memory. Shortly we will explain what we mean. For now, suffice it to state that our respective poetic hearts and minds have been tearfully trying to fathom why what happened to Bola Ige had to happen that December, that cruel December that remains ever cruel and ever evil in our lacrimatory sensibilities - since then any time we remember the enjoyable night we had with him as his academic as well as social guests in that December of 2001, Bola Ige’s last December and time on this earth plane.
How come we were his night guests? How come we were his December 2001 night guests? We now cannot fruitfully remember the actual date we were in his residence, a conveniently warm duplex or something akin to it in a serene place of noiseless noise as we friendlily thought and quipped to beautify our happy presence in Bola Ige’s company. Throughout the duration of our stay three of us – Tony Afejuku, Olu Obafemi and Bola Ige – tried to remain true to ourselves and loyal to the other in our conversation – although both Tony and
our host initially were disconcerted by their studied laconicism. (Both of them were seeing and meeting each other at a close range for the first time ever, which turned out to be their last). Olu had had a fairly intimate relationship with him prior to this day - a relationship which climaxed with the event of the presentation of a book in honour of Olu in which Bola Ige was the chairman. The book was edited by Duro Oni and Sunday Ododo in commemoration of Olu’s 50th Birthday on April 4, 2000. (incidentally, Olu and Bola Ige’s wife Atinuke, who has since departed for the great far beyond, shared the same birthday).
Now, earlier in the afternoon of our visit we, including our host, were at the Presidential Hotel for a book event. He played a leading role as the chairperson. We were representing the national body of the Association of Nigerian Authors at the event. Of course, Dr. Wale Okediran and Dr. Remi Raji (as the latter then was) were among other Ibadan-based members of the association who were Oyo State’s branch’s magnificent hosts of the event. As hosts, they were comely and very useful to us as we were clearly useful to them as representatives of the national body. Dr. ReubenAbati of the Guardian Newspapers who was equally at the big event from his Lagos base, who shared a space with us at coffee-time, immensely found the event thrilling, pleasurable and beautiful as we all really were by the profound remarks of the big masquerade Chief Bola Ige, whose mystical impulse and oratory captivated ANA’s representatives, and definitely all of those who were present. As we are writing this, we remember vividly that Bola Ige swept the audience off their feet with his lively nuances, candour, serious-mindedness and clear-sightedness about our moral (or immoral) states as writers and as compatriots of our country. At the brief coffee-time we had, as already mentioned, we on our table, as well as Reuben Abati aforesaid, who joined us for a chat as we sipped coffee, agreed that Bola Ige was manifestly an idealist or, some kind of idealist, who clearly was a fish out of the water of the central government he was serving in as a justice minister.
When the event was over at the Premier Hotel, these two writers writing this recollection headed for Wale Okediran’s abode where we were to spend the night. In fact, we should rightly state that Wale the medical doctor-writer and two of us headed for Wale’s home as his overnight guests. (He and his family were ready to give us a special reception befitting our writerly status). But we deviated on the way. We were now on the road to the abode of a permanent hero of our era. We arrived at Bola Ige’s place at about 7.30pm. Wale left us behind after a brief animated greeting with our hosts: Bola Ige and his dear wife Atinuke, who was wonderfully receptive to us.
We intended it to be a briefer than brief visit, but didn’t leave our chief host until well late into the silent night. Of course, we were worried that Wale who had since arrived at his residence to prepare his hospitality for us would be agitatedly or tiredly waiting for us. But we were really enjoying Bola Ige’s parlour that effused warmth and hospitality which enhanced our conversation with its owner.
What did we converse about? Almost everything about our country under Chief Obasanjo’s civilian presidency, and literature, local, national and universal. Bola Ige was warmly at home when we dwelt on different aspects of literature and philosophy and historical figures, including Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman lawyer, politician, statesman, scholar and a man of great principles who was assassinated on 7 December 43 BC (Bola Ige in our political and academic or scholarly circle was seen in his image and fondly called ‘the Cicero of Esa Oke’, his country-home in Ijeshaland). We also dwelt on the Ijaw-Itsekiri war.
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