Bola Ige: Former minister, Agunloye, may be murdered in prison – Soyinka raises alarm

Popular Nigerian Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka has raised concerns over the safety of the former minister of power and steel, Olu Agunloye in Kuje prison.

the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday arraigned Agunloye at an Abuja High Court over fraud allegation.

The court ordered Agunloye to be remanded in prison.

Reacting to the development on Wednesday in a statement by his spokesperson, Jahman Anikulapo, Soyinka recalled that the late Bola Ige was murdered in his bedroom, noting that the killers were yet to be identified.

He said Agunloye, a pivotal witness in Ige’s case, could be killed in detention.

“Dr. Olu Agunloye, we learn, was finally charged to court today, and the presiding judge in his or her wisdom, adjourned the case and proceeded to remand the accused.

“I wish to alert the nation, and the government that there exists a justifiable, high-level concern for Agunloye’s safety.

“I have made it clear that Bola Ige’s murder was not unconnected with the Mambilla scam. Olu Agunloye worked closely with me, both within and outside routine police motions, to unmask Ige’s killers.

“It would therefore amount to unpardonable complacency to propose that there are no forces sufficiently desperate to accord Agunloye the same fate as Bola Ige.

“Let it be understood that if anything happens to this pivotal witness while in custody, the inference will be heard loud, clear, and unambiguous”, Soyinka warned.