One of the umbrella bodies of herdsmen in Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has alleged that South-West governors are “hiding” wanted Yoruba activist Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho.
Spokesman for the group, Saleh Alhassan, stated this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Monday.
But Donald Ojogo, an aide to the Chairman of South-West Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, said it is demeaning for the governors to respond to Miyetti Allah’s accusation.
It will be recalled that the Department of State Services on July 1, 2021, raided Igboho’s Ibadan residence in Oyo State, detained 13 of his followers, and killed two of the activist’s associates in a “gun duel”.
Igboho, a spearhead of the separatist agitation for the Yoruba nation, escaped the bloody raid and was subsequently declared wanted by the secret police on allegations of stockpiling arms to destabilise the country, which he has since denied.
The whereabouts of the Yoruba nation agitator, who gained popularity in January, following his eviction notice to suspected killer herders in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State, had since been unknown.
The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore spokesman said the DSS should have raided Igboho’s house earlier than it did.
Alhassan, however, advised the activist to turn himself in to security operatives because he would be forcefully apprehended.
He said, “It is in his (Igboho) own best interest if he submits himself peacefully so that he can face justice. Why is he running? Is he not a revolutionary? He should submit himself before they get him because as it is now, he has been declared wanted, he should present himself to the nearest police station.”
The group’s spokesman also alleged that the six governors in the South-West region are hiding Igboho.
He said, “All his (Igboho’s) actions are political; he is being used. His godfathers in the South-West should bring him out.
“The security agencies are speaking the language he understands, they will get him. I know the governors are hiding him but they (security agents) will get him.
“The (Nigerian) State has declared him wanted. He is not more than the state. The governors keeping him should produce him.”
“He declared a republic; that was a rebellion. How can you be threatening the sovereignty of the (Nigerian) State and you still have the guts to be walking around and be organising rallies?” Alhassan queried.
However, Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, said it is belittling for the governors to respond to the allegation by Miyetti Allah.
When contacted for a reaction on the allegation by the herders’ group, Ojogo said that “It is not necessary, absolutely demeaning for elected governors to engage an association in a media banter.”
Meanwhile, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, another herders’ group in the country, kept mum on Igboho’s imbroglio.
“We don’t have any comment on the matter; we don’t talk on political or security issues,” MACBAN Secretary-General, Usman Baba-Ngelzerma, told our correspondent when contacted on Monday.
Back story: Igboho and the Ibarapaland eviction to ‘killer herders’
Before the DSS bloody raid, Igboho and his Ibadan residence had been attacked this year. On January 26, 2021, some faceless hoodlums attacked the Soka residence of Igboho also in Ibadan and razed the house.
The incident occurred a few weeks after Igboho issued a seven-day ultimatum to ‘killer herders’ in Igangan, in Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
Igboho had enforced same which led to the eviction of the Fulani leader in the rustic town, Seriki Saliu Abdulkadir, and his men.
Following the expiration of his ultimatum, the activist had stormed the agrarian town and saw to the eviction of Abdulkadir and his men who were accused of sundry crimes including rape, kidnapping and killing of farmers.
Abdulkadir, who has been displaced to Kwara State, however, denied the allegations.
There have been reprisals though, the latest occurred in June. About 17 persons were reportedly shot dead when hoodlums invaded Igangan on motorcycles around midnight, killing and destroying property but Abdulkadir has denied being behind the reprisal.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, who had said that the then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, ordered the arrest of Igboho, recently commended the secret police for their raid on the residence of Igboho, whom he described as a “militant ethnic secessionist”
