January 24, 2002
It must be clear to most by now that the public is being impudently manipulated into a cul-de-sac through several statements emanating from lawyer Keyamo's public relations industry. The most trivial of such distractions is of course is the implied 'significance' of the venue of my press conference - ref. 'The Comet' - during which I called for an investigation into Keyamo's role in the Fryo affair.
May I call attention to the fact that the private and public warfare between Keyamo and the governor of Lagos is of no interest to me and should be of no relevance in this high-profile murder enquiry. First, the press conference was an 'impromptu' one. I had called on the Lagos governor specifically to express my appreciation for the highly efficient send-off that his government accorded our late friend and colleague. Bola Ige. It was there that I ran into an obviously well prepared press ambush.
It was however, a welcome ambush. I had much to say, and I utilise any convenient platform for my public commentaries. The Keyano-Fryo affair was only one of the many topics over which the press engaged me. To suggest that there was a 'high-level meeting' between the governor and myself is a deliberate falsification of our ten-minute encounter before the press conference. Everyone else appeared to have seen it as a 'courtesy visit', but not of course Keyamo, whose real agenda continues to puzzle one.
From 'high-level' to 'secret' - what a world of intrigues our man weaves around his existence! Keyamo's claim that I held 'secret meetings' with the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mrs. Ojomo, is a shameful lie, most unworthy of a legal advocate. I visited that office in broad daylight, accompanied by two others, one of whom was Dr. Agunloye who was responding to an invitation to make a formal statement. We met in Mrs Ojomo's office, in the presence of three other officers whom I had never met before. I went there within my rights as a citizen conducting his own investigation - Chief Gani Fawehinimi's observations are pertinent in this respect. Mr, Keyamo may be interested to know that, at that meeting, I urged on Mrs. Ojomo the necessity of ensuring the maximum protection for his client, Fryo, whom I described as, and still maintain, is a crucial witness who had yet to 'tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth'.
I must make reference here to Gani Fawehinmi's commentary. It should be read most carefully. I find that my position and his are not different in any material particular since I have never claimed, for instance, that there is any law which prevents an attorney from carrying out his "professional role in interrogating" his client before handing him over to the police. Even journalists all over the world arrange secret rendez-vous with wanted individuals and carry out what amounts to an 'interrogation' , otherwise known as an interview. Sometimes they are taken to such encounters blindfolded. They do not however take the wanted individuals into their 'secret custody'.
Gani Fawehinmi was noticeably - and deliberately perhaps? - silent on the issue of the legality and ethics of keeping a wanted man in 'private custody''. This remains the core of my contention, not Keyamo's 'interrogation' of his client. I wish to make my position quite distinct from those of others in this respect. I think Gani owes us this one. How long would he consider it reasonable and acceptable for an attorney to keep such a wanted individual in personal custody, even if such 'custody' takes the form of the client freely walking in and out of his chambers as he pleases?
A day? A night and a day? A week? A month? A year? Or simply for as long as the attorney considers it necesary for his public-spirited line of enquiry? And all the while, the national police and Interpol are searching high and low for such a fugitive? If the trail runs cold as a result of such substitute incarceration, on whose shoulders must the blame be placed? If this gap in time has the potential of allowing the rest of the conspirators to cover their tracks, do we, the public on behalf of whom this service is rendered, remain mute before this monopolistic arrogation of investigative authority? I ask these questions in all objectivity. I really desire that Gani educate the public about these implications.
The more sinister aspect of the game of distractions is of course the preemptive accusation flung out by Mr. Keyamo, that one's legitimate concern as a citizen, is designed to protect someone somewhere. These are the familiar tactics of a barracks lawyer. Here I am, certainly among the second tier of the intimately bereaved, being freely accused of acting in a way to cover up for some people in high places! Such charges are so preposterous that they should normally be waved aside with contempt. However, Keyano's hysterical outburst actually gives one even more food for thought. Amd here I wish to warn in advance that I am about to enter the realms of speculative. Here goes:
Keyamo, in his public statements, has let out a hue and cry about the medical condition of his client. He warns that Fryo has developed a liver complaint which he did not have when he, Keyamo, handed him over to the police.
I begin by backing Keyamo's call for constant access to his client. In addition, I call on the police in whose custody Fryo is, to ensure that this suspect receives a thorough medical examination and attention for any ailment. In fact, the doctor should be empowered to provide a regular public bulletin on Fryo's state of health. We all declare a heavy stake in his welfare - some more genuinely than others.
However, Keyamo should also let us know how it came about that a lawyer, and one to whom access to a client has been granted, has been able to diagnose a sudden liver condition in his client! As a layman, I know roughly where the liver is, but rely on a doctor to tell me whether the discomfort I feel in my stomach regions comes from my liver, kidney, appendix, or other 'spare parts'. Next, when did the symptoms actually begin, and how far back can the cause be traced?
I ask these questions because of our experience under the manic regime of Sanni Abacha. Long before Shehu Yar'adua died, we received information that he was being subjected to a regimen of slow poison and indeed we broadcast that information on Radio Kudirat, long before the internal Nigerian media. Keyamo's statements contain a veiled warning - inferentially deduced - against his client being poisoned in prison, and we should do well to take note!
Hopefully, this is a false alarm. But suppose, just suppose Fryo is taken ill in custody as a result of such criminal activity, there is the question of when that criminal act was initiated. Was it in Ile-Ife while celebrating the assault on Bola Ige in Hilton Hotel? In prison while in police custody? Or in hiding while in Keyano's 'custody'? Where, in other words, was this - purely speculative - slow-acting 'tea' administered?
I hope the point I am making is clear. We could play these games of finger-pointing ad infinitum. Some play at them in order to feel involved and relieve their sense of impotence. Others are genuinely alarmed as such possibilities. But a third group indulge in it systematically in order to throw dust in the public eye, distract attention from a critical course of investigation, swallow up crucial clues, and cover up for the real criminals behind some dastardly deed, already executed, or projected.
The elimination, in full view of cameras, of the accused, Oswald, in the President Kennedy assasination case instructs us of the extreme possibilities of such conspiracies. The highly placed perpetrators of the crime, using the instrumentation of underworld criminals as well as agencies supposed to uphold the law, teach us to be suspicious of all interventions. I therefore share in full Keyamo's mistrust of the police, of any police in the world. I additionally mistrust however, the intervention of lawyers who hold criminals in their custody for days and unleash them on the public with self-serving fanfare.
Let it be understood also, that when I encounter the word 'Presidency' I do not think of any one individual, but a collective system or power, and a structure sustained by very powerful individuals, any of whose membership could come under scrutiny. Like 'the White House', a Presidency can be a house divided against itself - remember Nixon and 'Deep Throat'? - and I have never pretended to know to which of the individuals in Aso Rock the Fryo-Omisore alleged exchanges refer. It is not I, therefore, who have not been 'specific' but Omosore, Fryo and Keyamo! Maybe the good lawyer will now move to assist us with more specific affidavits.
Keyamo's attempt to muddy the waters even more by referring to my comments on the Electoral Bill, is of course yet another ploy to distract the public. Could we please separate the two events? I would have thought that they are both loaded with such complexities that either does deserve concentrated attention in its own right. I have called for an impartial investigation publicly and repeatedly over the Electoral Bill, insisting that whoever is found culpable in the attempt to thwart the will of the elected representatives should be punished. Mr. Keyamo should learn to be less economical and selective with the truth. He should also understand that I do not indulge in fingering individuals for a suspected crime, or dubious conduct, if there are mechanisms for exposing the facts in a thorough-going and systematic fashion. Keyamo's conduct, in my view, falls under the category of 'dubious conduct'.
I repeat, I do not believe for one second the story of how Fryo walked into his Keyamo's chambers. And I consider Fryo's story a mixture of facts and deliberate concoctions, the result of meticulous coaching. The agenda behind all of this is where the cover-up may yet be found lurking.
/s/
Wole Soyinka
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Press Release
By: Wole Soyinka