Yoruba Nation campaigner, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as
Sunday Igboho, says he is not at war with the President, Muhammadu Buhari, the
six governors in the South-West zone or any government official.
He, however, stressed that it was saddening that the Buhari
regime has not addressed the security challenges in the South-West zone which
was the genesis of his agitation for Yoruba Nation.
Igboho, in his 2022 New Year Message, said everyone living
in the country deserves to be protected regardless of their tribe, religion or
political leanings.
The New Year message was signed by one of the activist’s lawyers in Nigeria, Pelumi Olajengbesi, on behalf of his client. It was titled, ‘Sunday Igboho’s New Year message for 2022’.
It read, “Let it be abundantly clear that I am not at war
with President Buhari, the Governors or anybody in government. What I want the
government to do is to address the genesis of my agitation for a Yoruba Nation.
“The genesis is the insecurity in Ibarapaland and other
places in the entire Yorubaland where farmers were maimed, hacked to death,
kidnapped and raped as if there are no security agents in the country.
Everybody deserves to be protected and feel safe in their country regardless of
their tribe, religion or political leanings.
“At some points our people became helpless and they can no
longer go to their farmlands again. Scores of farmers were butchered to death
in 2021 and the government pretends that all is okay. No, this must not
continue and this was why I rose to stop the menace. I didn’t speak up to fight
government, I spoke to ensure protection for our people.
“My message is that in 2022, the government should rise up
and put an end to the havoc caused by herdsmen that are criminals and give
everyone a sense of belonging – whether foreign or locals — and stop the attack
of our people in Yorubaland.
“I am not selfish about myself, I am more concerned about
helpless citizens who buried their loved ones to aimless killings in 2021 and I
pray the Almighty God would stop the killings of innocent people in Nigeria.”
Detained in Cotonou prison for over five months
For over five months, the 49-year-old agitator has been in
detention in neighbouring Benin Republic since his arrest around 8pm on July
19, 2021 at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou.
The Cour De’appal De Cotonou since the arraignment of Igboho
on July 27, 2021, has not sat, fuelling speculations that the detention of
Igboho is laced with political undertones.
Igboho’s continued incarceration has also doused Yoruba
Nation agitations in the last five months as his followers and associates have
laid low, suspending secessionist rallies as was done in the South-West before
the near-perpetual ordeal of the agitator.
Igboho’s mentor in the struggle, who is also an arrowhead
for self-determination, Banji Akintoye, had since left Nigeria for Benin
Republic after he got wind that the Buhari regime plotted his arrest. The
86-year-old professor of History had said he was in Cotonou to facilitate
Igboho’s release.
Buhari’s maddening heat on separatists
The Buhari regime in 2021 turned maddening heat on
separatist agitators and descended on their arrowheads including Igboho who
agitated for the South-West to pull out of the Nigerian State over perceived
injustice and insecurity.
On July 1, 2021, around 2am, the Department of State
Services stormed the Ibadan residence of Igboho in a Gestapo style, killing two
of his associates and arresting 12 others. The luxury cars and the house of the
agitator in the Soka area of Oyo State were also riddled with bullets.
The DSS subsequently declared Igboho wanted for allegedly
stockpiling arms to destabilise Nigeria under the pretext of secessionist
agitation, an allegation he had since denied.
After about three weeks underground, Igboho found his way to
Cotonou and planned to escape to Germany through an Air France
Cotonou-Paris-Hamburg flight but the trip was botched as the Interpol at the
airport arrested him and his German-citizen wife, Ropo.
The Interpol at the airport had arrested the duo at the
behest of the Nigerian Government.
The Beninise Government subsequently arraigned the agitator
before the Cour De’appal De Cotonou on migration-related offences and for
gunrunning but the court on July 27, 2021, ordered that Ropo be released while
Igboho be remanded in prison till further notice.
Ropo, it was gathered, now shuttles between Germany where
her children are based and Cotonou where her husband is perpetually detained.
The court has not opened the case since then and all efforts
by Igboho’s lawyers both in Nigeria and Benin Republic have not yielded in his
release as the Buhari regime’s representatives in the Francophone West African
country led by Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin, Lt. Gen. Tukur
Buratai (retd.), continued to push for the extradition of the agitator.
VIPs indicted, political solution yet to produce results
During his speech on the occasion of Nigeria’s 61st
Independence Anniversary on October 1, 2021, Buhari accused a serving National
Assembly member and Very Important Personalities of being sponsors of Igboho
and the detained leader of South-East separatist group, the proscribed
Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, who is in DSS custody in Abuja and
facing terrorism-related charges before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High
Court.
Also, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) on October 22, 2021, said established a link
between Igboho and a Boko Haram sponsor, Surajo Muhammad, who was sentenced to
life imprisonment in the United Aram Emirates on charges of financing
terrorism.
The AGF alleged that between 2013 and 2020, Igboho received
N127m from several financiers including a federal lawmaker. The government,
however, refused to reveal the identity of the lawmaker.
The DSS on November 23, 2021, contested a N20bn damages
awarded against it by an Oyo State High Court, sitting in Ibadan, as damages to
Igboho over the destruction of his house and the violation of his fundamental
rights.
The secret police added that the Yoruba Nation agitator was
under extradition procedure to Nigeria.
Though pan-Yoruba groups including Afenifere backed
political solution to resolve the secessionist crisis in Nigeria after Malami
said such can’t be ruled out but the posture of the Buhari regime has shown
otherwise.
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