Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, better known as
Sunday Igboho, has said he will not be intimidated by the fresh attempt by the
police, the army and the Department of State Services to arrest him, saying any
effort to arrest him on Yorubaland will fail.
Igboho said this during an interview on
Friday, while reacting to the face-off between him and security agents around
the Guru Maharaji bus stop along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The Yoruba rights activist, who has been in the news for
serving a quit notice on Fulani herdsmen in some parts of the South-West, said
he was never invited before they attempted to arrest him.
Igboho, therefore, stated that he did not know why he was being targeted. He advised the Federal Government to focus on capturing Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, and invite Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who has been meeting with bandits in recent times.
He said, “I was never invited. They just lay in ambush for
me at Guru Maharaji and started shooting. They started shouting, ‘Where is
Sunday Igboho?’ I identified myself and asked them what the problem was. They
said I was under arrest and I said, ‘For what? On my father’s land? That was
how it degenerated.
“When they noticed how tense everywhere was, they fled. They
came in four Hilux vans and a Toyota Land Cruiser. There are bandits operating
all over the place but people like me who are defending our fatherland are the
ones you want to arrest. Why?”
When asked if the police had invited him, he said, “I have
not been invited. What have I done to warrant an arrest? Why do they want to arrest
me? What have I done?”
On whether he would honour a police invitation if invited,
Igboho said, “Go and ask them to invite Gumi and Shekau first before disturbing
me. Let them face the bandits instead.”
When asked if he would go into hiding, he said, “What for? I
am in the neighbourhood. I cannot run.”
He added that he had returned to his base in Ibadan.
Igboho said that his bank account was
initially frozen but that the restriction was lifted recently.
He said he had done nothing wrong by fighting for the rights
of his people.
Attempted arrest: I won’t stop defending rights of my
people, says Igboho
Meanwhile, Igboho has said the attempt by the security
agents to apprehend him on Friday will not stop him from fighting to make his people
safe.
Spokesman for the Yoruba rights activist, Oladapo Salami, in
an interview with Saturday PUNCH, said his principal saw the attempted arrest
as one of those things to cow him but that he would not stop defending the
rights of his people.
Salami said, “Igboho went to attend a meeting with some
Yoruba elders and, on his way coming back, some security agents wanted to
apprehend him. The security agents blocked the road with patrol vans of
Operation Burst, DSS van and made an attempt to arrest him.
“One of the vehicles used to block him is marked AK 1449. It
was Operation Burst vehicle. But they were not able to arrest him. The incident
happened before Guru Maharaji Camp.”
Asked why Igboho took off his shirt as seen in a viral
video, Salami stated that that was not the issue.
He said, “They made an attempt to arrest him but he has not
been arrested; he is at home. Is it a crime to defend one’s people? He is a bit
discouraged that some Yoruba persons are also part of the ploy, despite the
fact that he is fighting a Yoruba cause.
“But this will not stop him from fighting for the Yoruba
people. This is one of the challenges; he will forge ahead. There is no going
back on the struggle to make his people safe, especially on their land.”
According to Salami, though the meeting Igboho was to attend
had to do with issues confronting Yoruba people, he remains undaunted in his
pursuit to fight for his people to be free from criminals.
Also, a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode,
in a statement following the incident, said Igboho was on his way to meet with
93-year-old Afenifere chieftain, Ayo Adebanjo, when the incident occurred.
The statement read in part, “I just spoke to my brother
Sunday Igboho. He told me there was a violent attempt to arrest him this
afternoon by a joint team of soldiers, DSS operatives and policemen numbering
about 40 on the Ibadan/Lagos Expressway, whilst he was on his way to see Baba
Ayo Adebanjo in Lagos.
“I condemn this attempt to ambush and abduct him. It is not
only reckless but also very dangerous. If the security agencies want to see
him, all they need to do is to invite him to their office. I am not aware of
any crime that he has committed and I urge restraint on all sides.
“Let me also send a warning to the Federal Government that
Sunday Igboho is a hero to millions of Yoruba and either killing him or
detaining him unlawfully would be the biggest mistake they could make. Building
bridges, dialogue and the pursuit of peace are better than intimidation,
threats, violence and war. A word is enough for the wise.”
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