The relative and fragile peace in the South Western part of Nigeria was recently ruffled by the invasion of the home of the Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo otherwise known as Sunday Ighoho in the early hours of July 1, 2021. The Department of State Services (DSS) had since admitted it was responsible for the act.
It is arguable that the attack has now made Nigerians believe that, there are two sets of laws for southern and northern Nigeria. Criminality such as banditry may be treated with kid gloves in the northern part, while a legitimate act such as self-determination in the southern part may attract maximum attention.
Sunday Igboho’s metamorphosis into the proponent of the Yoruba self-determination struggle owes its emergence to the upsurge in insecurity in the South West occasioned by farmers-herders’ conflicts, persistent killings, kidnapping, and raping of women in rural communities.
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Inundated with complaints, traditional rulers, pressure groups and politicians within the region enjoined the federal government and its security apparatuses to step up the provision of adequate security of lives and property, especially for farmers. Their appeals fell on deaf ears.
And, when the six south west governors created a regional security formation that would complement the federal security apparatuses, that move was not welcomed by the federal government, which is why till today, Amotekun, the region’s supplement to Nigeria’s security network, has not been granted the right to bear arms.
The neglect of the region in terms of security provision, left in its trail, heavy casualties. A prominent Oba, the Olufon of Ifon in Ondo, Oba Israel Adeusi; Pa Reuben Fasorati’s daughter, Funke Olakunrin and several other farmers were gruesomely murdered.And these are only the known victims.
Before Ighoho’s emergence, there was hardly a week without scores being kidnapped within the South West geopolitical zone. Victims included Obas, academics; businessmen and women, farmers, most of whom secured their freedom after huge ransoms were paid. These aside, the scores of women and girls in rural communities were also raped. In all of these, the DSS and other security agencies were nowhere to be found.
The issue of self-determination should not have attracted the kind of gruesome attack recorded in Igboho’s house. It is on record that President Muhammadu Buhari, during his inaugural speech at the United Nations in 2015, reinforced the need for self-determination for the creation of the State of Palestine. If the President could canvass for Palestinians, what stops the Yoruba, or any other indigenous people in Nigeria from asking for the same right as enshrined in the UN charter? Is the DSS saying President Muhammadu Buhari committed a crime in this regard?
Against this backdrop, it baffles every Nigerian attuned with the rights of indigenous people across the world to see the kind of terror meted out on peaceful agitators for self-determination. We totally condemn that despicable act by the DSS.
The victim of this attack, Sunday Adeyemo, whose household and properties were destroyed, has come out to say all the items displayed by the DSS were planted in his house. Most Nigerians would agree with him in view of the fact that there was no one with the DSS to take stock of the items recovered in his house, and the deliberate destruction of the CCTV camera in his house by the DSS has put the onerous task on the state security services to convince Nigerians and the international community of its claims.
Most people have asked, how would Ighoho wage a war against the Nigerian state with just seven guns? As reported by different national dailies, about 100 DSS personnel were involved in the attack on Igboho’s house. So, if the DSS deemed it necessary to attack a household with 100 well-armed personnel, is it with seven guns that Igboho will overrun Nigeria?
Why is the Nigerian state not interested in the catalysts for self-determination agitation in the south west? And in confirmation of the fact that the self-determination struggle is beyond Igboho, after the sad event, thousands of people still came out at Ojota for the Lagos rally despite the militarisation of the rally venue and surrounding areas.
Is the DSS claiming they don’t see the northern bandits that hold meetings, collect ransoms in the open while brandishing their sophisticated weapons?
For the sake of peaceful coexistence in Nigeria, the Nigerian government and its security apparatuses are advised not only to release those arrested during the peaceful self-determination rallies, the corpses of those killed at Igboho’s house should also be released to their families for burial, and the persecution of Igboho himself and other agitators should be stopped with immediate effect.
