By Akinwale Kasali and Ayodele Oni
Finally, the alleged mystical powers of Yoruba secessionist agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popular as Sunday Igboho, has been demystified. His “African Insurance”, much applauded, finally failed him when he needed it most.
Perhaps, it works only in Nigeria. Which must be why it failed in Cotonou, capital of the Republic of Benin.
For, at least, two times in Nigeria, it worked for him, or so it was claimed.
First, the day he was intercepted along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on his way to the house of Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo for a meeting.
Pulling off his shirt, Igboho escaped arrest. The second time was this other day when operatives of the Directorate of State Services, DSS, swooped on his Ibadan home.
While Igboho miraculously escaped, two of his aides were killed, and 12 others, including a woman, alleged to be his wife, were arrested, and taken to Abuja.
After he escaped the raid, the DSS operatives were taunted for allegedly killing pussy cats, and arresting one, thinking Igboho had transformed into a cat.
The DSS had said they raided Igboho’s home over intelligence reports that he was stockpiling arms to wreak havoc on the country.
The Service displayed some weapons recovered, but which Igboho denied ownership, alleging they were planted by the DSS.
Thereafter, he was declared wanted by the DSS on July 1st 2021. But in a published report, Igboho said he was not in hiding, that he was in his Ibadan home. Even though many people disbelieved him, he followed that up by daring the Police to send 1,000 men to arrest him. Out of the number, Igboho boasted, not more than 100 would go back alive. And the 100, he said, would be those with spiritual powers.
On Saturday night in Benin, Igboho’s boasts and mystical powers ended. He was arrested at the Republic of Benin’s International Airport, Cotonou while he was trying to board a flight to Germany where his family, allegedly is.
Two days before his arrest, the DSS had said he was looking for a new International Passport to flee the country.
Many are wondering how he managed to escape Nigeria. Why he was not arrested at the borders. Some say he simply disappeared. Others say he left before he was declared wanted. The question, however: Why did Igboho not hide in the Republic of Benin where he was, and where there is a large number of the community, instead of venturing out? The opinion is that he took things for granted.
His arrest, however, has triggered a storm, and reactions are coming like claps of thunder.
In his reaction to Igboho’s arrest, theeader of the Umbrella Body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, said he has secured the services of legal experts to ensure Igboho’s rights are not trampled upon.
In a statement on Tuesday, Prof Akintoye said that contacts had been established with other Yoruba Patriots and they were currently working to provide assistance for Ighoho to prevent his extradition into Nigeria, saying “Benin Republic is a land that respect the rules of law”.
The statement, signed by him and made available to Reporters by his Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye, called on Yorubas within and beyond the shores of Nigeria to ensure that their ancestral land is not defeated by invaders.
“I received last night the troubling information that Chief Sunday Adeyemo fondly called Igboho had been arrested at the Cotonou Airport.
“I and other Yoruba Patriots who are immediately available are now working to provide the assistance necessary to ensure that nobody will be able to do to him anything unlawful or primitive and to prevent him from being extradited into Nigeria which is strongly possible.
“Fortunately, Benin Republic is reliably a land of law where the authorities responsibly obey the law. We have secured the services of a leading and highly respected lawyer whom we can confidently rely on.
“What the situation now calls for is that the Yoruba nation at home and in Diapora must stand strong, resolved that neither Sunday Igboho nor any other person will henceforth be subjected to inhuman or dehumanizing treatment of any kind.
“We, Yoruba nation are, by the grace of God, a very strong nation. We must arise now to show that strength.
“For a start, we must all see to it now that Sunday Ighoho will get his freedom back so as to be able to move and operate as a free person. We all know he has committed no crime.
“We know that some people are trying to suppress or even eliminate him only because he stood up to defend his kinsmen, women and children who are being massively killed and raped in their ancestral home Land; who are having their assets and means of livelihood destroyed, and who are facing ethnic cleansing and even genocide without having the benefit of protection by the rulers of their country.
“We know, furthermore, that for the protection of his people who are being brutalized, he has joined hands with many of his brethren to take the legally-approriate step, namely to seek the intervention of the International Criminal Court.”
From Reno Omokri comes the news that Igboho would get support from groups, and would be defended to the hilt.
And so have several others.
Igboho’s arrest comes about three weeks after the arrest of another secessionist agitator, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra in Kenya. The arrest of the two men confirms President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent promise to go after those agitating for freedom from Nigeria.
Kanu was repatriated from Nairobi, Kenya, and is facing trial at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
In Igboho’s case, there has been opinions that Cotonou is not likely to repatriate him to Nigeria. But many say “Forget it. That Cotonou will not dare challenge Abuja. That both countries are together on this.”
If true, Igboho is likely to be back to Abuja, Nigeria, between Tuesday and Wednesday. What is not known, for now, is which charges he would face if he is eventually arraigned before a Court of Law.
