Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, has said he is not at war with President Muhammadu Buhari, the governors in the South-West region or any government official.
According to him, it was saddening that the Buhari admnistration 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.
