Renowned Historian and Leader of Ilana Omo Oodua (IOO), the Umbrella Body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Prof. Banji Akintoye, has assured that he alongside other Yoruba patriots are currently working to provide assistance for arrested Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Igboho, fondly called Sunday Igboho in Benin Republic, saying this was being done to prevent anybody doing to him anything unlawful or primitive, and his extradition to Nigeria.
Akintoye, while pointing out that “Benin Republic is a land that respects the rules of law,” disclosed that efforts had been made to secure “the services of a leading and highly respected lawyer whom we can confidently rely on.”
The elder statesman gave this assurance, on Tuesday, in a statement personally signed by him, copy of which was made available to newsmen, on Tuesday, by his Communications Manager, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, saying he received on Monday night the troubling information that Igboho had been arrested at the Cotonou Airport.
He, however, called on all Yoruba people within and beyond the shores of Nigeria to come out and ensure that their ancestral land was not defeated by invaders.
“I received last night the troubling information that Chief Sunday Adeyemo fondly called Igboho had been arrested at the Cotonou Airport.
“I and other Yoruba Patriots who are immediately available are now working to provide the assistance necessary to ensure that nobody will be able to do to him anything unlawful or primitive and to prevent him from being extradited into Nigeria which is strongly possible.
“Fortunately, Benin Republic is reliably a land of law where the authorities responsibly obey the law. We have secured the services of a leading and highly respected lawyer whom we can confidently rely on,” he said.
Akintoye enjoined Yoruba at home and in Diaspora to stand strong, resolved that neither Sunday Igboho nor any other Yoruba person would henceforth be subjected to inhuman or dehumanizing treatment of any kind, declaring that such was what the situation called for.
He posited that it was the duty of all to see to it that Ighoho get his freedom back in order for him to move and operate as a free person as it was a well-known fact that he had committed no crime, but only that some people were trying to suppress or even eliminate him because he stood up to defend his kinsmen, women and children who were being massively killed and raped in their ancestral home Land, among others.
“What the situation now calls for is that the Yoruba nation at home and in Diaspora must stand strong, resolved that neither Sunday Igboho nor any other Yoruba person will henceforth be subjected to inhuman or dehumanizing treatment of any kind.
“The Yoruba nation is, by the grace of God, a very strong nation. We must arise now to show that strength.
“For a start, we must all see to it now that Sunday Ighoho will get his freedom back so as to be able to move and operate as a free person. We all know he has committed no crime.
“We know that some people are trying to suppress or even eliminate him only because he stood up to defend his kinsmen, women and children who are being massively killed and raped in their ancestral home Land; who are having their assets and means of livelihood destroyed, and who are facing ethnic cleansing and even genocide without having the benefit of protection by the rulers of their country.
“We know, furthermore, that for the protection of his people who are being brutalized, he has joined hands with many of his brethren to take the legally-appropriate step, namely to seek the intervention of the International Criminal Court,” Prof. Akintoye, said.
Source: Nigerian Tribune