Socio-political group, Afenifere, says the fresh move by the
Federal Government to extradite Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo aka
Sunday Igboho, shows that the regime of the President, Muhammadu
Buhari, is not committed to exploring political solution to resolve
secessionist crisis in the country.
Afenifere stated this in a statement on Wednesday signed by
the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi.
Earlier in November, the Attorney General of the Federation
and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had said that the Federal
Government would not rule out political solution to resolve secessionist crisis
in Nigeria.
Last week, the President said he would consider the demand
for the release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra,
Nnamdi Kanu, when some respected Igbo elders, led by Minister of Aviation in
the First Republic, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, visited him in Aso Rock in Abuja
and requested the unconditional release of the IPOB leader.
Kanu and Igboho are separately agitating for the secession
of the South-East zone and the South-West zone respectively from the Nigerian
state.
The Buhari regime, which turned maddening heat on the
separatists this year, got the two arrowheads behind bars. While Kanu is in the
custody of the Department of State Services, Igboho, who was apprehended in
Benin Republic while fleeing, has since been in a detention facility in the neighbouring
country. Both men are facing terrorism-related charges brought against them by
the Buhari regime.
An Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan had awarded N20bn
against the DSS for destroying Igboho’s house during a midnight Gestapo raid on
July 1, 2021. The secret police had also killed two of the agitator’s aides.
But on Tuesday, the DSS told the court that paying the
damages awarded against it would affect the economy.
The secret police added that the Yoruba Nation leader was
under extradition procedure to Nigeria.
Reacting, Afenifere said, “The intensified effort of the
Federal Government of Nigeria to extradite Mr. Sunday Adeyemo Igboho from Benin
Republic is a clear indication that the government is not totally committed to
genuinely tackle the challenges thrown up by those who are agitating for
self-determination in the country.”
It was titled, ‘Afenifere: FG’s latest position on Igboho
raises question on its commitment to political solution to agitators’ cases’.
“Were the government to be sincere with its recent
declaration of wanting to settle the agitators’ issues politically, it would
not be pursuing the path of extradition that it is bent on doing presently.
“Not only that, the government would obey the verdict given
by a High Court in Ibadan on September 17, 2021 by paying the ₦20.5 billion as
ordered rather than going on an appeal,” the statement added.
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