Sunday Igboho
Yoruba nation is not a threat whatsoever -Igboho. Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Igboho, a Yoruba nation activist, slammed the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj Gen Edward Buba, for labeling the Yoruba self-determination movement a threat to peace in the South-West zone.
According to the PUNCH, Buba claimed that security threats in various geopolitical zones differ, pointing out that the major threat in the South-West remains Yoruba nation agitators, while speaking to defence correspondents in Abuja on Friday about the activities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria against insurgency between January and December 2023.
Adeyemo, in a statement personally signed and made available to journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State, said the Federal Government, led by President Bola Tinubu, should disregard such a misleading security report as released by Buba, calling it malicious and intended to blackmail a peaceful organization seeking the establishment of a better society and good governance.
He regarded Buba’s viewpoint as misinformed, misleading, and the result of mischief with the ulterior objective of hanging the dog.
“We are aware of the noble efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to combat terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and other forms of criminality,” he stated. However, we take issue with the Director of Defence Media Operations, Buba, characterizing Yoruba nation agitators as a serious threat to the peace in the South-West.
“This is not only far from the truth, but also a flimsy excuse, highlighting the military’s failure to address the menace of insecurity, which threatened Nigeria’s peace, particularly during President Muhammadu Buhari’s immediate past regime.”
“Aside from the heinous and vicious attacks by Boko Haram terrorists on some states in the North, particularly in the North East, bandits controlled some local governments in some parts of the North during Buhari’s administration, collecting levies and other forms of revenue unhindered.” The military was powerless to prevent this act of aggression against the nation’s territorial integrity.
“Despite colossal sums of money in foreign currencies released to the military to procure arms and ammunition, including fighter jets, our nation has remained under siege by marauders and rampaging terrorists, who have killed thousands of Nigerians and forced innocent citizens to flee their country.”
“During Buhari’s administration, herdsmen nearly sacked parts of the South-West, including Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Oyo, attacking farmers, killing them, and raping their wives and daughters.” The security agencies were unable to keep these violent individuals in check. Rather, some ostensibly remorseful Boko Haram terrorists were granted amnesty and enlisted in the Nigerian Army.”
Igboho recounted that on July 1, 2021, some Department of State Services agents raided his Ibadan apartment due to the peaceful protests.
He further stated that two of his aides were killed and others were injured during the midnight raid.
“Despite having obtained a police permit, security agents shot dead one of our supporters in the Ojota area during a peaceful protest.” We sued the Federal Government under Buhari, as a movement guided by the laws of the land, for the illegal invasion of my residence and the destruction inflicted by the DSS, and obtained a verdict against the government all the way to the Court of Appeal. This verdict, which ordered compensation in the billions of naira, was not followed.
“Recent sad stories of the Nigeria Army mistakenly dropping bombs on worshippers numbering over 85 in Tudun Biri villages of Kaduna State, and the latest Christmas eve attack on some communities in Plateau State by bandits in which about 200 people, mostly women and children, were cruelly murdered, are critical issues that our military must address.”
“Instead, they are chasing shadows and falsely accusing the Yoruba nation movement of threatening South West peace.” This is a fabrication of their imagination, which discerning Nigerians and other relevant stakeholders should disregard,” he said.