By SULEIMAN SHEHU

Retired Brig.-Gen. Oluwole Rotimi has denied Chief Bisi Akande?s claim that he told the late Bola Ige he would face consequences if he left the Obasanjo-led administration.

Rotimi, the former Military Governor of the Old Western State, gave the clarification at a news conference held in Ibadan on Thursday to mark his 90th birthday.

It would be recalled that Akande, a former Osun governor, recently claimed in a radio interview that Rotimi said there would be consequences should Ige consider leaving the Obasanjo government.

Ige, who served as the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo?s government, was murdered on Dec. 23, 2001, at his Bodija residence in Ibadan.

The retired general said Obasanjo had called him when he wanted to change his cabinet to speak to Ige, not to contemplate walking out of his government.

?There was a lot of pressure on Ige to leave the Obasanjo government from people, including Prof. Wole Soyinka.

?I now advised Chief Bola Ige, ?Please, don?t do it. Obasanjo did not make a mistake in appointing you a minister in his government, and he appreciates your usefulness to his government?.

?I did not say if he left, something would happen to him.

?That I advised Chief Bola Ige not to walk out of Obasanjo?s government is a fact, but I did not tell him there would be consequences should he do it.

?First and foremost, that is what I want to clarify,? Rotimi said.

The retired general said what Akande said was, therefore, a misrepresentation.

He urged him to try as much as possible to get his facts right on the situation.

He further said he wondered how he would have known what would happen to Ige since he was not in government.

However, Rotimi faulted the steps taken by the government after Ige?s death, saying a thorough investigation should have been conducted into his death that had been so controversial.

?They should have gone beyond those who are his security personnel.

?If you limit your investigation right from the beginning, how do you deal with other facts hanging around, which nobody thought about?

?That is the way I feel they should go, but I have learnt over the years to close my mouth because I don?t want to say something which I cannot publicly defend in order not to be seen as a fool,? he said.

The former old Western State military governor said he felt for both Ige and Nigerians who looked up to him (Ige) as a leader.

Unfortunately, he said, there was nothing he could do because he was not in a position of authority.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Rotimi was born on Feb. 20, 1935, in Abeokuta, Ogun.

He became the military governor of the Western State in 1971 under Gen. Yakubu Gowon. (NAN)

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