A renowned historian, Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, has
confirmed the arrest of Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known
as Sunday Igboho.
Igboho was arrested on Monday at an
airport in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
In a statement confirming the arrest, Akintoye who heads the
umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Oodua, said he and
others are “working to provide assistance for Ighoho to prevent his extradition
into Nigeria,” saying “Benin Republic is a land that respects the rules of
law.”
He called on all Yoruba people “within and beyond the shores
of Nigeria to come out and ensure that their ancestral land is not defeated by
invaders.”
The statement titled, ‘Ighoho: There’s A Strong Possibility
That Extradition Request Of Nigerian Government May Be Rejected By Benin
Republic – Akintoye,’ was signed by him and made available to newsmen by his
Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye.
It read in part, “I received last night the troubling
information that Chief Sunday Adeyemo fondly called Igboho had been arrested at
the Cotonou Airport.
“I and other Yoruba Patriots who are immediately available
are now working to provide the assistance necessary to ensure that nobody will
be able to do to him anything unlawful or primitive and to prevent him from
being extradited into Nigeria which is strongly possible.
“Fortunately, Benin
Republic is reliably a land of law where the authorities responsibly obey the
law. We have secured the services of a leading and highly respected lawyer whom
we can confidently rely on.
“What the situation now calls for is that the Yoruba nation
at home and in the diaspora must stand strong, resolved that neither Sunday
Igboho nor any other Yoruba person will henceforth be subjected to inhuman or
dehumanizing treatment of any kind.
“We Yoruba nation are, by the grace of God, a very strong
nation. We must arise now to show that strength.
“For a start, we must all see to it now that Sunday Ighoho
will get his freedom back so as to be able to move and operate as a free
person. We all know he has committed no crime.
“We know that some people are trying to suppress or even
eliminate him only because he stood up to defend his kinsmen, women and
children who are being massively killed and raped in their ancestral homeland;
who are having their assets and means of livelihood destroyed, and who are
facing ethnic cleansing and even genocide without having the benefit of
protection by the rulers of their country.
“We know, furthermore, that for the protection of his people
who are being brutalized, he has joined hands with many of his brethren to take
the legally appropriate step, namely to seek the intervention of the
International Criminal Court,” Akintoye said.
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