BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
The embattled Yoruba self determination activist, Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Sunday Igboho, has reacted to the Thursday night raid on his Soka, Ibadan residence, saying that the actions of the security operatives betrayed President Muhammadu Buhari as a maximum ruler with ethnic biases.
Igboho, who denied the allegation that he stockpiled arms in his residence to fight the state, said he was not Nigeria’s problem and should not be framed up or intimidated for ensuring peace and safety in the South-West in the light of FG’s failure to secure the people against killer herdsmen invasion.
A statement titled, ‘My persecution by Buhari regime: Setting the record straight,’ signed by Igboho’s Press Secretary, Olayomi Koiki, read in parts, “The invasion of my home by the Nigerian security operatives and the Department of State Security’s announcement that I am wanted has made it essential for me to set the records straight for Nigerians and the international community.
“Nigerian security operatives invaded my residence in the early hours of Wednesday, 1st July, 2021. The invasion was done without a search warrant. I was not invited for questioning/investigation at any government facility before the invasion. The operatives that stormed my residence destroyed my properties, killed persons and stole valuables and money. Pictures and videos of their atrocities had been widely reported in the media.
“Nigerians and the world at large are aware of my resistance to the incessant killings, raping and kidnapping of my people in the South-West Nigeria by armed Fulani herdsmen. The failure of President Muhammadu Buhari and his government to curb the criminal activities of the murderous herdsmen necessitated my intervention.
“I, ordinarily, would not have intervened if government had lived up to its responsibility of securing the South-West and Nigeria at large from the criminal activities of the President’s ethnic men.
“Of public knowledge, my intervention had not let to any loss of life or bloodshed. My means of curbing criminality is to chase the criminal Fulani herdsmen out of their hideouts in company with the people of the affected communities. It is because of the foreseen government persecution that videos of such interventions were transmitted live on social media.
“Nigerians, the security operatives, and the presidency are aware that I had never moved against the peaceful Fulanis and other tribes living peacefully in the South-West. My unjust persecution — for defending my people and community — is, therefore, surprising and unwarranted.
“After several unsuccessful attempts to link me to any crime, the Buhari regime desperately opt to forcefully silence me, so that the criminal herdsmen, who enjoys government’s sympathy, protection and immunity, can easily outrun the South-West. The presidency’s serial antics and desperation to acquire people’s ancestral lands across Nigeria for foreign Fulani herdsmen is well known to Nigerians and the international community. I am being seen as a threat to the Fulanization agenda in the South-West, hence the desperation to soil my name.
“Nigerians and the international community should please be aware that the security operatives that invaded my home either planted the ammunition being paraded in the media in my home or harvested them from their armoury to frame me. The arms paraded are not mine, they are government’s magic. I protect myself with traditional powers, not with guns.
“Federal Government framed me up and the sequence of events brings the truth to bare. Why would the security agents invade my home at night and destroy my surveillance cameras before carrying out their operation if not that they had an ulterior motive? In this modern age of technological advancement, why did the security operatives not put on body cameras to record their activities from the point of entry to their time of exit? Their action is a testament that the Buhari regime is incurable of using desperate approach to silence peaceful social interventions.
The unwarranted military invasion of Lekki, gruesome killing of peaceful EndSARS protesters, and the evacuation of their bodies on 20th October, 2020 is still fresh in the mind of Nigerians. A similar approach was adopted during the invasion of my home. The security operatives killed scores and took away their bodies. Buhari’s regime would have declared that ‘unknown gunmen’ invaded my home if they had succeeded in killing me.
“Nigerians and the international community should beware that desperate efforts are being made to force those arrested to make implicating confessional statement. I advise the DSS to desist from their unprofessional acts and devote such energy to eradicating insecurity.
“Nigerians and the international community should please note that I am a law abiding citizen without blemish. I advise President Buhari to, in the interest of Nigerians that voted him to power, order his henchmen to desist from using falsehood and unholy tactics to soil my name. Such energy should be devoted to taming the herdsmen and bandits freely committing heinous crimes across Nigeria with impunity because their kinsman is in power.
“Yoruba people would not be demanding for a nation if government had lived up to its responsibilities. Self-determination is not a crime and all effort to silence us and acquire our ancestral land for local and foreign criminal herdsmen will fail. Many Ken Saro-Wiwa arose after Nigerian government unjustly executed the non-violent activist.
“Those that emerged after him confronted government and almost brought Nigeria to its knees. I am another Saro-Wiwa. Therefore, I advise President Buhari to learn from the mistakes of past governments. I am not Nigeria’s problem and should not be framed up or intimidated for contributing my quota to ensure peace reigns in my region and country.”
