Miyetti Allah accuses southwest governors of hiding Igboho from security operatives

One of the umbrella bodies of herdsmen in Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has alleged that southwest governors are “hiding” wanted Yoruba activist Sunday Adeyemo, aka, Sunday Igboho, from.arrest by the Department of State Services, DSS.

The DSS had on July 1, 2021, raided Igboho’s Ibadan residence in Oyo State, arrested and detained 13 of his followers in the aftermath of a bloody raid in which two of the activist’s associates were killed.

Igboho, a lead agitator for the Yoruba nation, escaped the bloody raid and was subsequently declared wanted by the secret police on allegations of stockpiling arms to destabilise the country.

In a swift riposte, Igboho had denied the charge by the DSS, alleging that the DSS planted the arms and ammunition it claimed to have recovered from his residence by itself.

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The whereabouts of the Yoruba nation agitator, who gained popularity in January, following his eviction notice to suspected killer herders in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State, have remained unknown ever since, fuelling suspicion that he is being shielded by some authorities in the Southwest..

Speaking on Monday, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore spokesperson, Saleh Alhassan, said the DSS should have raided Igboho’s house earlier than it did.

Alhassan, however, advised the activist to turn himself in to security operatives because he would be forcefully apprehended.

He said, “It is in his (Igboho) own best interest if he submits himself peacefully so that he can face justice. Why is he running? Is he not a revolutionary? He should submit himself before they get him because as it is now, he has been declared wanted, he should present himself to the nearest police station.”

The group’s spokesperson also alleged that the six governors in the South-West region were hiding Igboho.

He said, “All his (Igboho’s) actions are political; he is being used. His godfathers in the Southwest should bring him out.

“The security agencies are speaking the language he understands; they will get him. I know the governors are hiding him but they (security agents) will get him.

“The (Nigerian) State has declared him wanted. He is not more than the state. The governors keeping him should produce him.

“He declared a republic; that was a rebellion. How can you be threatening the sovereignty of the (Nigerian) State and you still have the guts to be walking around and be organising rallies?”

However, Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, said it was belittling for the governors to respond to the allegation by Miyetti Allah.

When contacted, according to a report by The Punch for a reaction on the allegation by the herders’ group, Ojogo said, “It is not necessary, absolutely demeaning for elected governors to engage an association in a media banter.”