A former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has warned the federal government of Nigeria against arresting the self-acclaimed Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho.
Igboho was reported to have been invited by the inspector general of police inviting him for interrogations on two separate occassion an invite which he (Igboho) refuse to honour.
Igboho noted that if the federal government is interested in prosecuting him, but it should first prosecute all bandits raping mothers and killing farmers in southwestern Nigeria.
Reacting to Igboho’the statement, however, Chief Fani-Kayode warned that the biggest threat to peace and stability in Nigeria is arresting Sunday Igboho.
He said, “I will say this just once. The biggest threat to the peace and stability of Nigeria today is the plan by some hardliners in the Federal Government to kill, arrest or detain my friend and brother Chief Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho). “
“Arresting, detaining or killing this man will be the biggest mistake that the Federal Government can make.
Chief Fani-Kayode insisted that igboho hasn’t broken any law that warrants the arrest of a man who represents 70 per cent aspirations of The Yoruba people.
“He has not broken any law and secondly because he represents the thoughts and aspirations of over 70 million Yoruba people. To every single one of those people he is the greatest hero of the South West since Oduduwa.”
According to Fani-Kayode, Sunday Igboho has pledged to maintain peace and guarantee the safety of Hausa-Fulani living in the southwest.
“Equally relevant is the fact that he has made a pledge to keep the peace and has honoured that pledge and commitment by participating and playing a key role in the biggest post-war peace deal in Nigerian history in which he single-handedly guaranteed the safety of innocent Hausa Fulani’s in the South West and even offered to protect and receive them after the food embargo on the South was lifted and when the Northern food suppliers refused to come South,” He stated.
Without Igboho’s guarantee of safety for the northerners, the embargo would never have been lifted and a major conflict would have ensued. I know because, together with Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state and others, I was deeply involved in the negotiations.
“There was also a plan to attack Southerners in the North (which would have resulted in a massive retaliation in the South) by a very powerful and well organised Northern group but this was dropped after Igboho gave his guarantee and committed to peace with those that come in peace and live in peace in Yorubaland.
This man SAVED both northern and southern lives by this single action and has refused to join others in attacking innocent Hausa Fulanis in the South West.”
“Instead he has focused on defending the Yoruba people and protecting them against the homicidal and violent Fulani terrorists that are launching daily attacks against them from the forests of the West.”
“For this, he is loved and revered by our people and neither will any self-respecting Yoruba person offer an apology.
This is a matter of self-defence and Igboho has consistently carried out these heroic operations in conjunction and collaboration with the local law enforcement agencies. That is why millions love and admire him: he has done what the FG has failed to do and provided security for our people.”
“To kill or arrest such a man who has committed no crime and who millions all over the SW love and would gladly die for is a dangerous, reckless and self-destructive course to take.”
And neither should his belief in the establishment of an Oduduwa Republic attract such aggression because he is simply reflecting the views and voicing the aspirations of millions of Yoruba people.
“If the Federal Government has an issue with Sunday Igboho my counsel and advice is to dialogue with him and attempt to build bridges of peace and understanding rather than attempt to arrest or kill him or wage war against him.
“He is not a murderer or a terrorist and neither has he breached any law or committed any offence.
“All he has sought and fought for is peace and security and the protection of his people against foreign invaders and killers who have occupied our land and who the Federal Government have been unable or unwilling to uproot and eradicate.
“Those identifiable individuals from the South West that are jealous of Igboho’s rising profile and that have urged the Federal Government to kill or arrest him are the real enemies of the Buhari administration. They are also the enemies of the people of the South West and Nigeria.” He said.
Fani-Kayode again stated that the arrest of Sunday Igboho would not solve the political aspirations of some persons but would be regarded as the height of treachery and betrayal.
“Arresting or killing Igboho will not help these people achieve their political objectives and aspirations. It will only make it impossible for them to do so and attract unprecedented hostility, opprobrium and notoriety to them. Treachery and betrayal come with a heavy price and if anyone doubts that they should find out how Judas ended.
“The greatest threat to our peace is for anyone to believe that the arrest or elimination of Sunday Igboho will not have serious consequences.
“This would be a grave miscalculation on the part of those who are contemplating it and would lead us down the road of turmoil, conflict, chaos and mutually assured destruction, He warned.
