By Bayo Bernard
Ibadan, the Oyo state capital was soaked in tension recently after Sunday Igboho, Yoruba activist and enforcer refused to honor an invitation from the former IGP Mohammed Adamu.
The matter, Presidential sources said, was one of the reasons for the sack of Adamu, even though the jail break in Imo state last week, where close to 2000 inmates were freed, and Government property worth several millions of Naira destroyed added to his ouster as Nigeria’s number one cop.
Adamu was in Owerri on official duty when President Muhammadu Buhari announced his sack. His sudden removal came as a shock to many Nigerians, considering that President Buhari had recently, in February, extended his tenure for another three months, despite public outbursts against the action. The extension was expected to last till May.
President Buhari has since appointed Usman Alkali Baba to replace him and the arrest of Igboho and other separatist leaders are said to be on top of the Presidency’s brief to the Inspector General of Police.
The new IGP had been decorated with his new rank by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who gave him a marching order to flush out criminal elements across the country.
“The IGP has met with top commanders of the Force last week with a direct order to arrest and prosecute all troublemakers in the country. As part of the Management Team of the former IGP, he knows what’s happening, and has assembled the best men and women in the Force to deal with insecurity in the country. On top of the plate is to deal with secessionist elements who are setting the country on fire with their unguarded comments. It is the duty of the Force to deal decisively with this problem before it gets out of hand,” a top Police officer in Abuja told the magazine.
Speaking in Abuja after Adamu handed over to him Alkali said his first task is to arrest the spate of insecurity in the country. To achieve this, he explained that top on the priority is to deal with secessionist threats.
This appointment ‘will stimulate me in my capacity as the new Acting Inspector General of Police to strengthen our strategies and provide the requisite leadership that will change the narratives in relation to our operational approach to the current security threats.
“Being appointed to head the largest police force in Africa, both in terms of personnel profile and operational jurisdiction, is to me more than a fulfilment of destiny. It is a call to national duty, particularly at this critical time that our nation is experiencing increasingly complex and pervasive security threats occasioned by terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, secessionist agitation and sundry highly organised crimes.
“Much as the challenge of leading the Force to address these threats in the shortest possible time frame, restore security order, and return our beloved nation to the path of national unity may appear daunting, I am inspired by the fact that from my extensive years of service, I can confidently say that the Nigeria Police is endowed with some of the finest, courageous and patriotic officers who, undoubtedly, shall support me to advance the internal security vision of Mr President.
“I am also encouraged by the fact that the outgoing Inspector General of Police has laid a solid foundation and entrenched a culture of professional efficiency in the Force. These will stimulate me in my capacity as the new Acting Inspector General of Police to strengthen our strategies and provide the requisite leadership that will change the narratives in relation to our operational approach to the current security threats”.
Igboho and other separatist groups will not be spared by the new regime, according to the police boss.
“The task of restoring the primacy of the Nigeria Police in the internal security architecture of the country is the main challenge ahead of us. It is, however, a task that I am convinced we can surmount if we resolve as a people to partner and present a common front against the subversive and criminal elements who are the common enemies of our nation, ” the IGP said.
The Police boss spoke amidst call by a Fulani group, Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, GAFAN, for the arrest of Igboho. The group also called on the Federal and Oyo state Governments to ensure the return of Alhaji Salihu AbdulKadir, displaced from Igangan by Igboho in January.
The Abuja-based GADFAN equally asked the Governments to compensate the Sarkin Fulani for all the loss he and his people suffered during the attack on their settlement by the acclaimed Yoruba activist, Sunday Igboho.
The association which issued a statement in Ilorin, Kwara state, said it is “To our greatest surprise and dismay, up till this moment, Sunday Igboho is moving freely as if nothing has happened.”
Those that have been watching the Igboho saga said the Presidency had gotten tired of the former police Adamu’s reluctance to arrest the acclaimed activist and leaders of other separatists groups in the country.
Recall that operatives of the police had tried, unsuccessfully, to arrest Igboho along the Lagos /Ibadan expressway on February 26. They were rebuffed by the activist and his supporters and since then many have been wondering what would be the federal government’s next line of action.
Therefore, not a few Nigerians were shocked when Igboho failed to honour IGP’s invitation for questioning. His swift response to the invitation is that it would be wrong to arrest him when the police have failed to extend a similar invitation to Fulani leaders in the country, who he blamed for kidnapping and other violent activities in the south west.
The self-acclaimed Yoruba freedom fighter said in response to the letter sent to him via DHL and another with about 15 police officers that he cannot be intimidated. His spokesman, Olayomi Koiki said in a statement that his principal refused to accept the invitation sent to him by the IGP because he was not ready to be killed like Dele Giwa, the late Newswatch magazine editor who died through a parcel bomb in 1987.
Kioiki said: “We would like to tell the international communities and every Nigerian that this morning 1st of April, 2021, a letter was sent via DHL to Chief Sunday Igboho but the letter was not received by his security operatives.
“Later around 3 pm of the same day, a team of about 6 men without uniform arrived in a Corolla car and another 9 were in police uniform but all were identified as police officers. They wanted to see Chief Sunday Igboho with a letter said to have been addressed to him by the Inspector General of Police. Again, the letter was not received by Chief Sunday’s security team.
“Chief Sunday would like to know why a letter was sent to him and for what purpose. If the IG of police wants to invite him, we would like him to first send the same letter to all the bandits and Boko Haram members killing our mothers and farmers and those kidnapping them. Since the IG of police wants to invite him, he should make a public statement addressed to Chief Sunday Igboho.We should all remember how letters had been sent to previous Yoruba sons like the late Dele Giwa.”
Adamu may have been used as a guinea pig on the Igboho issue, but the Federal Government is yet to close the chapter, as it has put the Police and other security agencies on alert to deal with the matter soon, according to Government sources. Various sources suggested the Presidency is currently tinkering with the idea of deploying other security agencies to the activist’s home in Soka, Ibadan to effect his arrest, but has been very careful for fear that doing so could have serious security implications.
This suggestion comes amidst the Chief of Army staff, Lt General Ibrahim Attahiru’s recent resolve to deal with Igboho and other troublemakers in the country. “The army will surmount attempts by some individuals who are seen to have compromised the territorial integrity of the country by the declaration of sovereignty on behalf of ethnic nationalities in the country,” the COAS said
Whether the Army boss will carry out the threat still remains a matter of conjecture, but many have warned that the military needs to tread softly on the matter in order not to throw the country into crisis. This has become so, analysts insist, considering the volatility of the south west as a result of demand for secession by youths and prominent leaders from the region.
For instance, human rights activist and senior advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Femi Falana has warned the Federal Government against the speculated arrest of the acclaimed freedom fighter. The lawyer who had earlier condemned Igboho’s quit notice to Fulani in the South- west said the activist should not be made a scapegoat for the insecurity in the country.
Issuing the warning, Falana said: “I urge the Police not to venture to arrest Mr Sunday Igboho because in this same country, when others issued quit notices to other nationalities in the past, they were not arrested.
“There is no way the police can choose who to arrest in this nature. Almajiris have been deported, beggars have been deported, the poor and destitute have been deported and the government never raised any issue.”
Other prominent Nigerians, including Femi Fani-kayode, a former Aviation Minister have also spoken in similar vein. “Let me also send a warning to the FG that Sunday Igboho is a hero to millions of Yorubas and either killing him or detaining him unlawfully would be the biggest mistake they could make. Building bridges, dialogue and the pursuit of peace are better than intimidation, threats, violence and war. A word is enough for the wise,” the former Minister said.
Igboho first became a public item early in January after he issued a quit notice and eventually led his followers to evict Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, accusing the Fulani leader of complicity in the spate of kidnapping and other insecurity plaguing Oke Ogun, Oyo state.
Since then, the activist has gained support far and wide, even though others insist that non-state actors like Igboho should not be allowed to take over the responsibility of the state, to protect the citizens and ensure peaceful co-existence among groups in the country.
Those in this line of thought have also cited Igboho’s recent past as a thug who should have been arrested and punished for crimes committed, rather than being celebrated in the mould of a freedom fighter. They also called out Igboho for not respecting constituted authority and for making provocative comments that are capable of setting the country on fire.
Apart from these, Igboho’s attack on prominent Yoruba traditional rulers, for allegedly subverting the will of Yoruba people to secede from the country has also sparked division among leaders in the region, with many condemning him and calling on the authority to call him to order.
The activist had provoked not a few recently after he said he will lead his supporters to open international borders in the south west for imported items to come in against Government’s policy. He also vowed to open seaports in Lagos over his anger that Northerners are in control of various government agencies working in the country’s major seaports in Apapa and Tin can.
Igboho said the current food scarcity in the country is caused by the Fulani and vowed that “we will hold a meeting and open our borders so that rice, food and other things can enter easily. Enough is enough. All our borders that the Nigerian government closed, we are telling them we are no longer under them, we will go and open the borders.
“Our ports in Lagos here are all run by Fulanis, we don’t want them from now on, even at our airports, we no longer want the Fulani leaders there. Whatever the government wants to do, they should do it. We are ready. Some people say Yoruba people are not united, we are! If you want to try us, touch one of us.”
He was condemned by some for making the incendiary comment but “not by many Yoruba youths who consider him a hero who will liberate them from Fulani leaders who are holding the country by the jugular. Igboho’s ways may be rough but definitely his messages resonate with his target audience who sheepishly follow him,” said Toyosi Adebanwi, an activist in Lagos.
He explained that “Igboho’s emergence is not unconnected with the failure of leadership which gave room for non-state actors to take over its respo nsibilities because nature abhors a vacuum. Imagine the problem people in Oke Ogun were facing before Igboho came to their rescue. The Igangan people will be grateful to him forever for his effort to rid their lands of Fulani killers as nothing anybody says about him would matter,” he said.
But many are, also, worried over his unconventional response to issues and his constant attack on those he perceives as the enemies of Yoruba. Igboho had in one of his comments attacked the Ooni of Ife for compromising the campaign against Fulani herders after the traditional ruler visited President Buhari in Abuja to consult with him on the vexed issue. Ooni and others were warned by Igboho to forget the Nigerian project, adding that the 2023 general election will be bloody and that politicians from the region who participate in the election will be shot from behind. The comment riled prominent Yoruba leaders who swiftly called on him to apologise to the traditional ruler.
“The attack on the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi received flaks from prominent leaders from the region who prevailed on him to apologise to the first class traditional ruler. Even though he did, the understanding among traditional rulers in Yorubaland is that Igboho is trying to set them against the people and topple their timeworn position as residuals of power and authority,” Adebanwi said.
His sour relationship with the Governor of the state, Governor Seyi Makinde, on how to handle the killer herdsmen problem is also causing tension as State officials have accused the activist of working for the opposition. While the Governor prefers a peaceful resolution of the farmers/ herdsmen crisis, because as some of his aides said, doing contrary can set off a deadly reprisal from the North, not so with Igboho who prefers a hard-line posture that that Fulani be evicted from Yorubaland for peace can reign.
But close watchers of the dispute insist that what exists between the duo is a disagreement on how to handle the Fulani menace, that it will be impossible for Igboho to be working against Governor Makinde who got into office through the support of former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, who is regarded by Igboho as his Godfather.
Recall that the activist in one of his interviews narrated how Ladoja directed him to work for Tinubu and Alliance for Democracy, AD during one of the keenly contested governorship election in Ondo state in 2006. He had earlier fought on Ladoja’s side during the power contest between the former governor and late Lamidi Adedibu, the generalissimo of Ibadan politics between 2006 and 2007.
Before he met Ladoja, the activist had worked for former Governor Lam Adesina in the AD, but later switched sides to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
According to him “I wanted to join Politics in 1999, while in Modakeke, Osun State, but my mentor then, an aged man, identified as ‘Oluwasalu’ with not so much zeal for power, discouraged me.
“Though I got to Ìbàdàn in year 2000, only a few knew me. But in 2002, there was a political feud between Lam Adesina, Ladoja, and Adedibu. Ladoja was a supporter of Adedibu, both of whom intentions were to hijack power from Lam Adesina in 2003.”
His path with Adesina crossed during a fuel scarcity when the former governor noticed his bravery for fighting on the side of the masses.
Igboho said “Lam would later give me his complimentary card, asked me to be part of his political campaign team because Adedibu usually disturbed them. That was how I became part of Lam Adesina’s team, just because I was defending a powerless Nigerian who was assaulted by the politician’s security aides. That gave me an opportunity to meet who is who in the Nigerian politics back then.”
Until he ventured into politics, Igboho was known to be among those who fought on Modakeke side during the popular Ife/ Modakeke war in the late 90s. Narrating how he became prominent, in an interview recently with the Nigerian Tribune, he said his father passed the metaphysical powers to him.
After the war ended, the activist was said to have been involved in smuggling of goods such as tokunbo (used) cars and food stuffs in the Oke Ogun area, to eke out a living. He later delved into land sales in Ibadan where some have accused him of forcefully taking over their lands. He has denied the allegation that he’s a land grabber.
Igboho whose popularity has grown in recent times have become a difficult bone for the authority to swallow, according to critics, who said Buhari’s administration has not shown enough courage to deal with the emergence of ethnic militant leaders in the country. Many Nigerians are watching whether the new IGP will arrest Igboho to prove critics wrong that the government has totally lost power to secessionists.
