Despite being in detention in faraway Benin Republic, Yoruba nation agitator Sunday ‘Igboho’ Adeyemo, has been celebrated as he clocks 49 years.
Sunday Igboho, who was arrested at the Cotonou international airport while trying to board a flight to Germany alongside his wife Ropo, was widely known for defending communities against attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen in the southwest of Nigeria.
Speaking PUNCH on Sunday, leader of the umbrella body of the Yoruba self-determination group known as Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof Banji Akintoye, assured Igboho that he will be a free man soon.
According to Akintoye, an ally of Igboho, the embattled agitator has not been forgotten.
Speaking through his spokesman, Maxwell Adeleye, the professor said, “Igboho is a prisoner of conscience; he is a man of the people. People like him are never forgotten. He has chosen to stand by his people and I have never seen someone who stand by his people and is defeated. Igboho can never be defeated.
“So, on behalf of all organisations under Ilana Omo Oodua, we wish him Happy 49th Birthday. He can be rest assured that his 50th birthday would be celebrated globally and we shall laugh last at the end of the journey.”
Also in a statement on Sunday titled ‘Gani Adams congratulates Igboho on 49th birthday anniversary’ the Aareonakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams, called for the unconditionally release of Sunday Igboho from detention in Benin Republic.
“The struggle for the liberation of our race is one struggle that cannot die, and no matter the threats or injustice meted out to each and every one of us, we remain unshaken that the struggle for a just society where life is meaningful is a dream that can only become a reality in a Yoruba land,” Gani Adams said.
“I once celebrated one of my birthdays in detention and in those trying moments, I felt the urge never to look back but look up to God and that actually raised my spirit that whether now or later justice will triumph. I will be set free from the bondage of injustice. And it all came to pass.
“Unfortunately, this same experience is playing out in the case of Igboho as he turns 49 today, but I am sure that he will surely be set free because the activist is not fighting a wrong cause but a cause for the liberation of our race.”
This article was originally published on Naija News