- Alli’s Son, Andrew Reacts…Says Father Wasn’t Guilty of Anything
Former presidential candidate and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, has joined other commentators to pour vituperation on the state pardon granted to late Ambrose Alli by President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.
Alli was posthumously pardoned by the President alongside late eminent nationalist and first Republic Parliamentarian who moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence on the floor of Parliament in April 1953, Chief Anthony Enahoro. Enahoro who was an Action Group parliamentarian representing Esan had moved the historic motion for self-government in 1956. Chief Enahoro was later Federal Minister of Information, and following the annulment of the June 12 Presidential election evidently won by late business mogul, Chief M.K.O Abiola, Chief Enahoro went on to join forces with fellow activists to form NADECO, which he led as Chairman. Others pardoned include late Col. Moses Effiong, who became General Effiong and deputy to late Ojukwu under defunct Biafra; Major E.J. Olanrewaju and Ajayi Olusola Babalola.
Sowore, while reacting to the president’s action said it came to him as a bewilderment, noting that Buhari was the one who “illegally overthrew” Ambrose Alli, a democratically elected governor of the old Bendel state in 1983.
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Sowore, the convener of #RevolutionNow protest wondered why good people were always losing out, while the bad ones got rewarded.
Sowore, who recently spent months in detention after he organised a nationwide revolution protest which never held, tweeted, “We should be fighting differently, good people are losing out while bad political actors are getting rewarded for their bad behaviours! Imagine the regime of @MBuhari ‘pardoning’ Ambrose Ali a democratically elected governor he illegally overthrew in 1983?”
VIDEO: “We should be fighting differently, good people are losing out while bad political actors are getting rewarded for their bad behaviours! Imagine the regime of @MBuhari “pardoning” Ambrose Ali a democratically elected governor he illegally overthrew in 1983?#RevolutionNow pic.twitter.com/LZW2zRisWo
— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) April 9, 2020
Meanwhile, Andrew Alli, son of Ambrose Alli, has reacted to the state pardon granted his father. He said his family never believed that the late governor of the defunct Bendel state was guilty of any crime.
In a series of tweets on his official Twitter handle, Andrew said his family is yet to be officially informed of the development, adding that they only learnt of the pardon via social media. He, however, thanked the president, for the gesture and also expressed gratitude to Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo state, for acting as a catalyst to the development.
According to Andrew, the presidential pardon is a testimony to the fact that his father did no wrong “other than giving his all to improve the lot of the people of the former Bendel”. “We are aware of the announcement concerning the pardon of my father, Professor Ambrose Alli, made by the Government, via its social media pages,” Andrew wrote.
“Although we are yet to receive any direct official communication on this matter, we are pleased to hear that our father/uncle/brother/grandfather has received a presidential pardon.
“We have never believed that he was guilty of anything, other than giving his all to improve the lot of the people of the former Bendel State and, indeed, Nigeria. This is demonstrated by the enduring legacy that he left.
“We thank his excellency, President Buhari, as well as his excellency Governor Obaseki, and all those who have supported the process inside and outside government, for their recognition of this fact.”
The New Diplomat recalls that Alli, a Professor of morbid anatomy was the first civilian governor of the Old Bendel state, before the then Bendel state was partitioned to Edo and Delta. He governed the state between 1979 and 1983, when he was defeated in the polls by Chief Samuel Ogbemudia. He died in 1989 when he was just 60 years old.
He was among the civilian governors jailed by the maximum regime of Muhammadu Buhari in 1984, over an allegation that he diverted N983,000 (about $1.5million at the time). The money was meant for a road project.
Born in Idoani, Ondo State on 22 September 1929, after childhood education in old Bendel and Ondo, Ali went to the School of Agriculture Ibadan (1948) and the School of Medical Technology, Adeoyo Hospital Ibadan (1953–1960).
After bagging his MBBS, he went further to the United Kingdom for a post-graduate course in neuropathology at the University of London (1961–1966).
He got a D.C. Pathology degree.
Later he studied at the University of Birmingham from 1971 to 1974. He was a lecturer at the University of Ibadan (1966–1969) and was senior lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (1969–1974).
From 1974 to 1979, Alli was Professor of Morbid Anatomy and head of the department of pathology at the University of Benin, Benin City.
