New judge for top Nigeria case

By Elizabeth Blunt
BBC, Lagos

Mr Ige's death remains a mystery 18 months after he was killed

A new judge has been chosen to handle the high profile murder case of Nigeria's attorney-general and justice minister Bola Ige.

He will be the fourth judge to be allocated to the case after his predecessor withdrew last week complaining of intolerable pressure.

A senator from Nigeria's ruling party is the main suspect in the case.

While the reasons for the justice minister's death remain a mystery, the conduct of the case is rapidly becoming a major political scandal.

Bola Ige was shot dead at his home 18 months ago in what appears to have been a calculated assassination.

Motives

Various motives have been suggested, but none of them are conclusive;

• he was the victim of local political rivalries in south-western Nigeria;
• he had trodden on the toes of drugs barons;
• he defended one of the area's senior traditional rulers;
• he stood in the way of the ruling party winning the south-west at Nigeria's recent elections.

In the event, around a dozen people were charged, including a ruling party politician, Iyiola Omisore.

The judge who put Mr Omisore back in jail resigned due to 'pressure'

It is what happened next that is so controversial.

Despite the murder charge, Mr Omisore was allowed by his party to stand for the Senate, won his seat and was given bail just in time to be sworn in and to attend the inauguration.

This went down badly, especially in the north of the country, since northerners charged in similar cases, are still languishing in jail.

Pressure

Meanwhile, two judges had withdrawn from the case and the third, who cancelled the bail and put Mr Omisore back in jail, resigned last week, saying that he had come under untold pressure from the moment he took over.

A new judge has now been chosen.

But his name is not being made public until he actually starts hearing the case.