The purported persecution of Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, an agitator for the Yoruba Nation, which allegedly started under previous President Muhammadu Buhari, has been accused of being carried out by the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Igboho spokesperson Olayemi Koiki made the assertion in an audio message that was transmitted on Monday.
“The reason for the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s ongoing witch hunt against Sunday Igboho is unknown. He remains on as of right now.
the list of sought individuals,” Koiki stated.
“We requested the opening of his bank accounts, but they declined; the same is true for his companies,” he continued.
“The injustice that Sunday Igboho stood up against in Yorubaland was his offense, and the problems he raised are still present today.”
While Igboho is regarded with respect elsewhere, Koiki claims that he is still considered a criminal in his own nation.
Except in his native nation, he is not viewed as a criminal as he travels the world. Although the court ruled that he should receive compensation, he claimed that no one had done so as of yet.
Koiki claimed that during the contentious raid on Igboho’s home in Ibadan in July 2021 by Department of State Services (DSS) agents, the Buhari-led government was trying to eradicate him.
Intelligence that Igboho was hoarding firearms was the basis for the operation, according to the DSS. The DSS later declared Igboho sought and said they had found weaponry in his house, despite the fact that he had escaped the operation.
Read Also: Retired Military Officer Dies in Kidnappers’ Den Despite N10 Million Paid
When Igboho fled to the Republic of Benin, he was taken into custody. Subsequently, he was charged with smuggling weapons, inciting violence, and encouraging secession from Nigeria at the Court d’Appel in Cotonou.
In March 2022, he was freed by Beninese authorities, and portions of the Southwest celebrated.
While in captivity, Igboho was allegedly pressured by the Nigerian government to abandon his cause, according to prominent Yoruba historian and Oodua Nation supporter Banji Akintoye.
Despite court rulings and the Benin Republic authorities’ decision to free Igboho, Koiki bemoaned the Nigerian government’s claimed refusal to take him off the wanted list.
When Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), the then-Chief of Army Staff, visited Igboho in prison as a special envoy, Akintoye said he showed him a letter offering billions of naira in exchange for giving up his campaign for Yoruba independence.
“Buratai took the document away after he refused to sign it,” Akintoye stated.
Igboho reportedly wrote to Keir Starmer, the prime minister at the time and the current leader of the UK Labour Party, in October 2022, pleading with the British government to recognize and back the Yoruba independence movement in Nigeria.
Even after his release, Sunday Igboho has not yet made his way back to Nigeria, where his supporters maintain that the state continues to unfairly persecute him.
