By Bisi Oladele, Ibadan and Alao Abiodun
Kinsmen of the embattled Yoruba nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho in Igboho and the entire Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State have risen up for him, saying his fundamental human rights must be respected in his trials.
Speaking under the aegis of Oke Ogun Development Consultative Forum (ODCF), the kinsmen in a statement yesterday called on the Federal Government and the government of Benin Republic to respect his fundamental human rights in the trials.
Adeyemo’s alias, ‘Igboho’, was derived from his place of origin, Igboho, located in Oorelope Local Government of Oyo State. ODCF is the umbrella body for the people of Oke-Ogun.
The statement, which was signed by ODCF President, Dr. Olusegun Ajuwon and Public Relations Officer, Comrade Jare Ajayi, said Adeyemo’s mission was meant to put a stop to the oppression of Yoruba people – of which he is a proud son.
“We are proud of his desire to see that farmers are no longer prevented from cultivating their farms and our women are no longer raped in the course of pursuing their businesses” the statement said.
The leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has said the body and other groups are working hard to secure the release of the Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly called Sunday Igboho, who is in custody in Benin Republic.
Akintoye, in a statement made available to The Nation by his Communications Manager, Maxwell Adeleye, described some media reports (not The Nation) that he has left Nigeria to escape the plot of the government to arrest him as untrue.
He, however, confirmed that he is in Benin Republic, but not on the run, as widely reported.
Akintoye said he is Benin Republic to coordinate and supervise how to legally rescue the embattled agitator from the government remand as soon as possible.
He said Igboho committed no offence against the Nigerian laws to warrant being arrested, intimidated or harassed, and that he’ll return to Nigeria as soon as he is released by the government of Benin Republic to continue the struggle for the actualisation of the Yoruba nation.
He added: “No retreat, no surrender. Myself, the President-General and Prof. Wale Adeniran (Chairman) of Ilana Omo Oodua, are in the Republic of Benin as reported, but not on the run.
“We are here to supervise and coordinate, by all legal and other means, the struggle for the release of our son and patriot, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho detained by the government.
“By demanding peaceful self-determination for the Yoruba nation, I am not breaking any law, since self-determination is recognised by the international and Nigerian laws to be an inalienable right of every nationality, large or small, in the world,” Akintoye said.
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