… says ‘they brought fake herbalist to facilitate my arrest, killed cat mistaken for me’
Frontline Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has narrated how he escaped arrest by the Department of State Services during its operatives’ controversial raid on his Ibadan residence in July 2021.
Igboho said DSS operatives failed to arrest him despite surrounding his residence, claiming they mistook a cat for him and even brought in a “fake herbalist” to perform rituals to facilitate his arrest.
Igboho, who recounted the incident when some Muslim delegations visited his residence in Ibadan on Monday, said he remained inside the house throughout the DSS operation, but the operatives could not find him.
He said, “When they came around 1:30 am. I heard a sound and was inquiring who it was; they started shooting at the room. They heard my voice. When they finally scaled the fence in, they planted a dynamite on the burglary, and everything completely fell apart. That was where they entered. I was naked, but upon hearing their voice, I wore a jean and shirt. One mind was telling me to surrender to them; the other was telling me not to surrender, else I would be killed.
“So at a point, it was looking like I was scared of them; then I immediately yelled, inquiring what had happened and why they had come to pick me up. So they started shooting at close range without even seeing me.
“When they entered and were screaming that I opened the door, they pointed a gun at Dudu (my personal assistant)’s head. And he kept begging me not to shoot while knocking on the door. There, I suspected. They forced the door open. People were even lying that they shot me and I ran away with my intestines out.”
The activist, who also dismissed the rumour that he turned into a cat when the DSS operatives gained access into his house, stated, “I didn’t turn into a cat. They even killed it, thinking it was me. They even brought a fake herbalist who was just making an incantation and performing a ritual. I was in the house watching them, but they didn’t see me.
“There was this my brother who was partially blind and came out; upon sighting him, they shot him, thinking that he wanted to attack them. They took the corpses away as evidence that they truly invaded my home. So, it was God that saved me after a prayer that some Muslim clerics did in my house, forestalling a bad vision they claimed to have seen on me.”
DSS operatives had invaded Igboho’s Soka residence in Ibadan, Oyo State, in the early hours of July 1, 2021, following months of heightened tension between the activist and the Federal Government under the leadership of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Before the DSS raid, Igboho had gained national attention after issuing an ultimatum to some Fulani residents in parts of Oyo State, accusing them of involvement in kidnappings and other violent crimes.
He subsequently declared that criminal elements among the Fulani would be driven out of Yorubaland and intensified his campaign for the establishment of a sovereign Yoruba Nation.
The Buhari-led government viewed some of his activities as a threat to national security, leading to attempts to arrest him.
During the raid, the DSS said it recovered firearms and ammunition from the residence and arrested 13 of Igboho’s associates.
The agency also confirmed that two of his aides were killed during the operation after what it described as an exchange of gunfire.
Following the raid, Igboho escaped from Nigeria and was later arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic, while attempting to travel to Germany.
He was subsequently released by Beninese authorities after months of legal proceedings and has since remained in self-imposed exile in the Benin Republic, from where he has continued to champion the Yoruba Nation cause.
