Chairman SL Akintola was expected to give a victory speech after the rigged regional elections of 1965 which brought him to power as Premier of the Western Region. On October 15, 1965, shortly before the radio broadcast of the Prime Minister’s speech, an armed man reportedly entered the premises of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in Ibadan and confiscated cassettes containing the Prime Minister’s recorded speech. The shooter, believed to be Wole Soyinka, then forced the continuity presenter to play another tape he had brought with him instead of the Prime Minister’s triumphant speech, the people of western Nigeria heard, among other things, the following defiant message: “Akintola, come out; Akintola, go and take with you your band of renegades who have lost all pretense of humanity with you and are nothing more than murderous beasts. . . . The legitimate government of Western Nigeria is the UPGA government elected by the Western people.Let every selfish deceiver now come before the people who are losing their patience and flooding the streets with their contaminated blood. . . . In the name of Oduduwa and our generation, come out! Before the frustration of ten million people reaches you, their anger and justice will consume the fire. This incident embarrassed and angered the Prime Minister, and Wole Soyinka was immediately declared wanted, detained, and then charged with crimes related to the conspiracy and theft of the Prime Minister’s documents.
The imprisonment of Soyinka prompted many influential writers and intellectuals to lodge protests with the Nigerian government and ask for mercy. Although Soyinka failed to obtain an alibi, the prosecution was unable to secure a conviction in court because several witnesses gave contradictory statements about the shooter’s identity. According to Justice Kayode Eso (as he then was), who presided over the trial, the appropriate course of action in the circumstances was to acquit and release the accused. Defying pressure from influential politicians in the western region who were keen to convict Soyinka, Judge Eso said: “All the eyewitnesses [on the radio] were convinced that the [gunman] who held her captive was not masked .” . The place was well lit – they showed off and had no doubt that they had examined the murderer’s face. Everyone said the bandit was bearded. [One of the prosecution witnesses said that Soyinka, whom he had seen on the radio two hours before the accident, was clean-shaven]. Although I understand how a bearded man at 5pm could be clean shaven at 7pm.I can’t solve the mystery of the clean-shaven man at 5 p.m. Grow a beard at 7 p.m
