Oyo/Fulani Clash: Sunday Igboho says he is ready to die fighting for his people

Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly called Sunday Igboho, has said he cannot be intimidated by the Federal Government’s threat of arrest.
Igboho was the one who issued a seven-day ultimatum for Fulani herdsmen to leave Oyo State, basing his action on alleged findings that they were behind the killings and kidnapping going on in the state, particularly in the Ibarapa North Local Government Area.
He had moved to Igangan on Friday, the day the ultimatum expired, to actualise his vacation order, despite Governor Seyi Makinde’s warning to the contrary, and was given a rousing welcome by youths in the area.
After addressing the youths, he reportedly stormed the Fulani settlement in the town with his supporters to make good his threat to eject the Seriki Fulani, Salihu Abdukadir and his men, who had been accused of masterminding the criminal activities in the area.
Some people were reportedly killed during the clash, while many properties were set ablaze.
Following the clash, the Presidency said the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu, had ordered the arrest of Igboho.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, was quoted to have disclosed this during an interview with BBC Hausa.
Shehu reportedly said he had just spoken with the IGP, who confirmed to him that he had ordered the arrest of Igboho, and that he would be brought to Abuja after his arrest.
But this move had since been seen as a controversial one, especially as many analysts advised the Federal Government to tread cautiously with regard to such a delicate matter.
The Oyo State Police command has also said all culprits in the violence will be arrested.
However, in a viral video, released not long ago, Igboho narrated what transpired in Igangan and insisted that he would continue to fight for the freedom of his people even if it meant losing his life.
He said all the suspected Fulani herdsmen that were handed over to the police were released, following a directive from “above” to a DPO.
Igboho said, “God will not allow the destruction of Yorubaland. These herders, after kidnapping people, would be asking the females among them to undress and they would rape them. Anyone they kidnap, the least ransom they collect is N10m.
“Imagine the case of Dr. Aborode who they killed recently. He studied till he got a PhD degree and then went abroad to make some money. He came back to his fatherland and started a very big farming business with millions of naira.”
He added, “The herdsmen grazed their cattle on the farm and he went to that Sarkin, Saliu to complain. They tied him to a stake and hacked him to death. The Yoruba people had warned him not to go to the Sarkin but he went, thinking that he would help to warn his people.
“You dare not go to that Sarkin. Before you get to him, there are three different barricades to his palace here in Igangan. We went to him to call his attention to the atrocities that his people were committing, and the Governor was now saying something else. With my tribal marks? Only God knows when I will die.”
He said when he was nobody, he was fighting for his people, and that now that God had been gracious to him, he could not be intimidated.
“I already have children. If I die today fighting for my people, my children will say our daddy was an actor,” he noted.
Igboho further said, “After 20 years that God must have liberated Yorubaland from its oppressors, then we can relax. They have turned our fathers to fools. In the time of the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the then Prime Minister asked our king to come but Oba Aderemi said who? Never say that again. Ooni would never cross a river. They would rather go to him.
“If President Buhari goes to any of the emirs in the North today, he will do obeisance to him; if he comes to our own Ooni of Ife, he will stretch forth his hand for a handshake. You now reduced all of us to mere fools.
“We now spoke and you said I should be arrested. Who? Are we acting films? When the policemen came, I said they would turn away from that point and they did.”
“My people too are ready to die for me. You see them. The whole thing will end in a day and it is someone that will start it. At Iganna, herdsmen kidnapped their Local Government Chairman. They collected N20m ransom before he was released. You can verify that from him,” the activist claimed.
Meanwhile, some of the residents of Ibarapa, who spoke to The Point correspondent, expressed total support for Igboho.
A farmer and resident of the area, who identified himself as Suraj Olaniyonu, said, “He (Igboho) is the saviour of our time. You need to see these people play god for you to know that they are bent on enslaving, killing and torturing us in our own land because they believe they have the backing of powerful people in Abuja.
“If they try anything with Igboho, they will be surprised what will happen in Nigeria, starting from here. Enough is enough.”
A commercial driver, Mathew Aremu, who said he was at the venue of Igboho’s address, argued that the Fulani people must be made to face the law for all the atrocities they committed.
“They molest, kill, intimidate, kidnap and put fear in the minds of everyone. They have become Lords in a place that is not their land, and Government is backing this injustice,” he said.
“Let us see where this will lead us. We are with Sunday Igboho on this. The Governor can align with who he likes. If he is not careful, he can never be Governor again in this state,” he added.