The administration of President Bola Tinubu has been accused of continuing the alleged persecution of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, a campaign that reportedly began under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The claim was made by Igboho’s spokesman, Olayemi Koiki, in an audio message sent to SaharaReporters on Monday.
“It is unclear why the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has continued to witch-hunt Sunday Igboho. Till today, he is still on the wanted persons list,” Koiki said.
Koiki lamented that, despite court orders and the release of Igboho by the Benin Republic authorities, the Nigerian government has allegedly refused to remove him from the list of wanted persons.
He added, “We asked that his bank accounts be opened, and they refused; same for his companies.
“Sunday Igboho’s offence was standing up against the injustice happening in Yorubaland, and the issues he protested against are still prevalent.”
According to Koiki, Igboho is treated with dignity abroad but remains labelled a criminal in his own country.
“When he travels around the world, he is not seen as a criminal but only in his home country. Even when the court said he should be compensated, no one compensated him till date,” he said.
Koiki accused the Buhari-led government of attempting to eliminate Igboho during the controversial raid on his Ibadan residence in July 2021, carried out by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The DSS had claimed that the raid was based on intelligence that Igboho was stockpiling weapons. Although Igboho escaped the raid, the DSS later declared him wanted and claimed to have recovered firearms from his home.
After fleeing to the Republic of Benin, Igboho was arrested and detained. He was later arraigned at the Court d’Appel in Cotonou on charges including arms smuggling, inciting violence, and promoting secession from Nigeria.
His release by Beninese authorities in March 2022 was met with jubilation in parts of the Southwest.
Prominent Yoruba historian and advocate for the Oodua Nation, Banji Akintoye, also alleged that the Nigerian government tried to pressure Igboho into renouncing his cause while in detention.
Akintoye claimed that the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), acting as a special envoy, visited Igboho in prison and presented him with a document offering billions of naira in exchange for abandoning his agitation for Yoruba independence.
“He refused to sign the document, and Buratai subsequently took it away,” Akintoye said.
In October 2022, Igboho reportedly wrote to then UK Labour Leader and now Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, urging the British government to acknowledge and support the Yoruba secessionist movement in Nigeria.
Despite his release, Sunday Igboho has yet to return to Nigeria, with his supporters insisting he remains unjustly targeted by the state.