Did you know? Adebayo ‘Fryo’ Adedamola, Osun PDP guber candidate, was arraigned for Bola Ige’s murder

Adebayo ‘Fryo’ Adedamola

On December 2, Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola stepped into the spotlight as the newly elected governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the Osun state August 2026 governorship election.

His emergence came after Ademola Adeleke, initially slated for the race, abruptly resigned from the PDP, citing the party’s unending leadership turbulence. And just like that, the ticket went into Adedamola’s hand, a man whose name is now stitched into political conversations across the state.

But for many older residents of Osun and Oyo, Adedamola’s name does not sound new. Also known as ‘Fryo’, the name rings a bell, loudly at that.Decades earlier, he appeared in police files and courtroom transcripts as a prime suspect in the death of Bola Ige.

A NAME FROM A DARK HISTORY

On December 23, 2001, Ige, then Nigeria’s attorney-general and minister of justice, was shot dead inside his Bodija home in Ibadan, Oyo state capital. The killing shook the country. Fingers pointed immediately toward the fierce political feud in Osun between Bisi Akande, then governor, and Iyiola Omisore, his deputy.

Ige was central to the political crisis in Osun, acting as a mediator within the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to reconcile Akande and Omisore, whose relationship broke down over party dominance.

But as tensions escalated into clashes between supporters, and Omisore was subsequently impeached, his mediation was seen as siding with Akande, and the feud reportedly culminated in Ige’s assassination.

During that period, a few days before his death, Ige was attacked in Ile-Ife by a mob of angry youths reportedly loyal to Omisore. He was publicly humiliated, and his cap was removed from his head — a major insult in Yoruba culture.