The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has rejected the appeal by individuals, yoruba monarchs, stakeholders urging the group to met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the release of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho.
Afenifere who rejected the appeal said there is no basis to beg the president to release Igboho.
Recall The New Diplomat had reported that the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrosheed Akanbi called out to his fellow Yoruba monarchs, elders, groups and other stakeholders to convene a meeting with Buhari over the freedom of Igboho, appealing to the government to engage with Benin Republic on bilateral grounds and ensure the activist is safely repatriated to Nigeria.
But in a statement issued on Friday by the General-Secretary of the group, Sola Ebiseni, Afenifere said it won’t beg Buhari because Igboho had committed no crime.
The statement reads, “We do not have to beg the President to release Sunday Igboho. Sunday Igboho did not commit any offence whatsoever; that’s our position.
“Those who went to invade his house were terrorists in Nigerian security uniform and they have no right whatsoever and that has been tested in a court of competent jurisdiction. Igboho has been absolved and the government was visited with N20bn worth of damages.
“In spite of the impunity of the Buhari government, we insist that Nigeria shall not be governed except by the rule of law.”
Recall that the Yoruba agitator, alongside his wife, Ropo were arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic on July 19. While Ropo has since been released, Igboho is still languishing in a detention facility in Benin and has spent 131days there.