Late Chief Bola Ige was still serving as the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) when he was perturbed about his elder brother’s health, George Ige, living in Lagos.
George Ige was suffering from prostate cancer, and it really got his younger brother, Bola Ige worried.
On December 22nd 2001, Chief Bola Ige came to Ibadan from Abuja for the Christmas break. He called his first daughter- Mrs Funsho Adegbola and told her he wanted to go to Lagos to bring his brother to Ibadan for proper medical treatment and close monitoring. And that he would not be able to attend the annual Christmas Carol of her church that he was fond of attending yearly.
His daughter, Funsho said; “Daddy, let his children do that…” George Ige’s children were scattered abroad, and one of them is a Professor. Bola Ige replied his daughter and said; ”
Funsho, my brother is my brother, I don’t need to wait for his children and lose him. As you care about your brother, Muyiwa, so I care about my own siblings.”
George Ige was known as the rallying point for the family.
Chief Bola Ige went with his security detail to Lagos, and he brought his brother and his wife to Ibadan. The medical Doctors in UCH were on strike then, so he took him to Oluyoro Catholic Hospital (V.I.P private section).
Before Bola Ige left Oluyoro Catholic Hospital that evening of December 23rd, he gave Christmas gifts to all the Nurses and Doctors on duty, so they could give his elder brother best treatment
On getting home, Bola Ige had no slightest idea that his political enemies had laid an ambush to eliminate his life.
According to his daughter, Funsho Adegbola (nee Ige), the owner of The Vale College Iyaganku GRA Ibadan, in her book titled “HE GAVE ME HIS WINGS” (My Parents’ Memoirs), she wrote ; “After my Dad was shot by the Assassins in his bedroom, he was rushed to the same Oluyoro Hospital that he left an hour before. But the assassins made sure he died before they left the house.”
“His elder brother noticed that a big personality was rushed in dead because of the pandemonium in the hospital premises, but the health workers prevented him from knowing that it was his own brother who told him and his wife he would come back on the Boxing Day and left some money with his wife.”
“My Dad taught me family values so much, that your blood brother is your blood brother, and your blood sister is your blood sister. If you are nice to outsiders more than you are nice to your own siblings, something is fundamentally wrong, and it is a wrong seed you are sowing in the family.”
“Daddy George eventually got to know the next day that it was his brother that was shot dead in his house when he heard it on radio. His health began to deteriorate. After we went to Esaoke for the final burial, his children who came from overseas returned to Oluyoro Hospital and told him how it went, and from that moment he stopped eating, and he died the next day.”
Michael J. Fox said; “We may have our differences, but nothing is more important than family.”
When you know the importance of family values, it goes beyond your spouse and children.
Let no pastor or prophet separate you and your siblings. No matter how you love your spouse and children, let them know you also love your siblings. They may not be coming to your house, but still show them love!
Your coming to this world from the same loins was not an accident; it is by divine providence. The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.
Family love grows when we understand family values.
Credit Dr. Joel Emmanuel, an Academic Scholar, Ordained Pastor and Life Coach
