Adesakin Adefemi
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has thrown its weight behind Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, over his campaign to rid Yorubaland of banditry and kidnapping. The group said Igboho’s actions are directed at criminal elements, not any particular ethnic group.
In a statement issued on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi, in Ibadan, Afenifere insisted that the activist “was not threatening any particular ethnic group but individuals and groups who engage in terror acts in Yorubaland.” The group added that there was “absolutely nothing wrong” with Igboho’s position to protect his people.
The development follows Igboho’s two-hour ultimatum to kidnappers after a woman and her children were abducted at Igbope in Oorelope Local Government Area of Oyo State. He warned the abductors to release the victims or face dire consequences, a move that drew reactions from several northern groups.
The Concerned Fulani People of Nigeria, in a statement by Convener Ibrahim Barkindo Chubado, had urged President Bola Tinubu and Governor Seyi Makinde to caution Igboho over remarks it described as inflammatory toward Fulani communities in Oyo. Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders Forum, and the Coalition of Northern Groups also condemned the ultimatum and called for him to be “reined in.”
Responding, Igboho, through his spokesperson Olayomi Koiki, clarified that his advocacy was against abduction, killings, banditry, and other vices, and not targeted at any ethnic nationality. He said Nigerians across religious, political, and ethnic lines should work with government and security agencies to rid the country of criminality.
Afenifere dismissed calls for sanctions against Igboho as blackmail. “Since he was not violent in his action nor conduct himself in a manner that violates the laws of the land, calling on the authorities to deal with him borders on blackmail and an attempt to call a dog a bad name with a view to having it hanged. We in Afenifere stand by Sunday Igboho,” the group stated.
The organisation traced rising insecurity in the South-West to illegal grazing on farmlands and the spate of abductions and community displacements. It also alleged that illegal miners could be financing terrorism, moving in to exploit mineral resources after displacing residents. Ajayi noted that many of those arrested for banditry in the region are from the North, particularly Fulani, and that top military officers had said some attackers were remnants displaced from Sambisa Forest.
Afenifere urged northern leaders to address recruitment sources for terrorists, citing millions of uneducated and welfare-alienated youths. It also commended President Tinubu for sending a bill on state police to the National Assembly and applauded lawmakers for expediting passage. The group called on state assemblies and governors to establish properly recruited, trained, equipped, and insured state police services once the law is enacted.
“We in Afenifere stand by Sunday Igboho,” Ajayi reiterated, maintaining that the activist’s anger is directed at those behind kidnapping for ransom and killings, not Fulani people as a whole. The group said Yorubaland has long been a safe haven for northerners, and that tensions only escalated with criminal infiltration.
