Former Information Minister, Chief Alex Akinyele has taken Lagos radical lawyer, Chief Gani Oyesola Fawehinmi to task over his reported criticisms of President Olusegun Obasanjo on the death of his wife Stella.

Akinyele, who is Gani's kinsman from Ondo town, also revealed that when he lost his wife some seven years ago, Gani also extended the same treatment to him.

Akinyele in the same breath accused Prof. Gabriel Okunzua who attributed the cause of the crash of the Bellview Airline at Lisa, Ifo local government area of Ogun State to witchcraft, of mischief and grand deception.

Lamenting that Gani is obsessed with unfair criticism and indiscretion, the former Minister said, "I think it is another of his obsession to be very, very inhuman. I remember very, very well when my wife died, Gani is a friend, we are from the same town, and we are very close friends. Rather for him to come or send somebody to condole me, he was talking this kind of thing to me in the papers. Is it the time to talk all this rubbish about Obasanjo? It is not fair. Chief Gani Fawehinmi has to know that there is discretion in everything we do, everything he said is not factually true of the situation in Nigeria.

You talk with discretion. You talk with understanding. You talk with maturity. You talk with a sense of responsibility. This is a fellow human being like you. What has General Obasanjo done to deserve this at this particular time in his life? It is very, very unfair. It makes me sick. But I am not surprised, he did the same thing to me when my wife died."

Akinyele said it was not surprising that people did not sympathize with Gani on the fate of his son who had an automobile accident two years back.

Absolving Obasanjo of any blame, Akinyele asked, "how many of us know what our wives do in the confines of their bedroom, not to talk of when they travel abroad?"

He described her death as a "catalyst that will effect national reconciliation," adding that it was surprising to behold General Muhammadu Buhari, who has been estranged with Obasanjo in Aso Villa and shaking hands with him.

Akinyele said he was pleasantly surprised at the full involvement of the Vice President in the funeral and his empathy towards his boss, given the low state of their relationship in the last few months.

He observed that it would be unbelievable for the unity and reconciliation, which Stella's death engendered to slack in the future arguing that there was unprecedented show of love, understanding and maturity at her death.

Buttressing his allegation, he said, "In 1995, he had a vision for me. He warned me not to take any job from General Abacha, that if I took any job from Abacha, I would die. I took the job. I was on that job for four years. General Abacha died in1998. Here I am today, still talking."

"He is spiritually weak. He is spiritually blind. If Stella would talk to him after her death, Stella would have sent messages to her dear husband and child. Stella would not have said she is no longer interested to live because of the hypocritical situation in the country. No. This old man should keep his mouth shut, so that we can continue to respect him for his old age."

Akinyele reminded Nigerians of his warning in 1991 when he was Minister of Information to be wary of prophets of doom that were then stalking all over the country.

According to him, "Witches don't operate like that. 117 people! Can they all offend the witches, that the witches and wizards will just kill them? If you offend the witches, it is you as an individual against them. How can they fight 117 people, with most of them innocent. If none of them is innocent, what of that child? That is to tell you that Okunzua is spiritually dead."

He expressed optimism that Obasanjo will give democracy a chance, reminding that about 99.9% of Nigerians don't want to hear of "this third term," and urged him to respect the wishes of the people.

He said that much as he is disturbed about recent happenings in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which may likely impact on 2007 election, he urged Nigerians not to "rattle INEC," so that they can do a good job.

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