Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of continuing what he described as a relentless witch-hunt initiated by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime.
Speaking through his spokesperson, Olayemi Koiki, in an audio message released on Monday, Igboho lamented that despite being cleared of charges in the Republic of Benin, the Nigerian government has refused to remove his name from its wanted list, while allegedly blocking his personal and business bank accounts.
“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 stated.
He further revealed that Igboho’s bank accounts and those of his companies remain frozen, in defiance of multiple legal decisions.
“We asked that his bank accounts be opened, and they refused; same for his companies. Sunday Igboho’s only offence was standing up against the injustice happening in Yorubaland,” he added.
Koiki described the continued persecution of Igboho as a stain on the nation’s human rights record, pointing out that while the activist is treated with respect abroad, he remains branded a criminal at home.
“When he travels around the world, he is not seen as a criminal – only in his home country,” he said.
He also recalled that a Nigerian court had ruled in favour of compensating Igboho for the illegal invasion of his Ibadan residence by the Department of State Services (DSS) in July 2021, but said the judgment has yet to be obeyed.
During the infamous raid, DSS operatives claimed they recovered firearms from Igboho’s residence, branding him a threat to national security. Igboho narrowly escaped arrest but was later declared wanted.
He eventually fled to the Republic of Benin, where he was arrested and arraigned on charges including arms smuggling, incitement, and secessionist activities.
He was later released in March 2022 following diplomatic and legal interventions, a development that sparked celebrations across parts of the Southwest.
Renowned Yoruba historian and prominent Oodua Nation advocate, Prof. Banji Akintoye, corroborated the claims of persecution, alleging that the Nigerian government attempted to coerce Igboho into abandoning the Yoruba self-determination cause while in Beninese detention.
Akintoye alleged that the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), acting as a special envoy, visited Igboho in prison and offered him billions of naira in exchange for a signed renunciation of the agitation.
“He refused to sign the document, and Buratai subsequently took it away,” Akintoye claimed.
In October 2022, Igboho reportedly reached out to the then UK Labour Party leader and now British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, calling for the recognition of the Yoruba Nation cause and international support for the right to self-determination in Nigeria.
Despite his release, the Yoruba Nation activist remains in exile, with his supporters maintaining that he continues to face unlawful political persecution by the Nigerian state.
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