A relatively known name in Oyo and Osun states Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Sunday Igboho took upon himself the role of a freedom fighter for Yoruba land by dislodging criminal herders from Igangan in Ibarapa, Oyo State.
The sad event of June 5, 2011, which saw some undergraduates murdered at Iwo Road interchange, Ibadan, by supposed thugs of the Oyo State branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the killings in Akinyele area of the city between June and September 2020, by Sunday Shodipe, were two security breaches that made the state notorious.
Igboho’s visit to Seriki Hausa of Igangan, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, was celebrated for two reasons. One, he had visited Abdulkadri a week earlier and given him and his kinsmen a seven-day ultimatum to vacate Ibarapa to end criminal activities of some herders in the town. This singular act, which many believed was courageous, confronting a perceived resident who he believed had links with criminal herders in the area, made his move heroic .
Two, Igboho’s visit was in defiance to Governor Seyi Makinde’s directive to security agencies to arrest and treat him as a criminal should he carry out his threat to forcefully eject Abdulkadri and his kinsmen from the land.
Abdulkadri had reported Igboho to Makinde over the threat, stressing that he and his kinsmen had been living in Oyo State for decades. He said their children were born there, adding that they grew with others in the communities. He emphasised that there exists inter-marriages among Fulani and Yoruba in the state.
Igboho also fired back at Makinde in recorded voice notes that surfaced on social media, warning him to shelve his directive because, according to him (Igboho), he was out to liberate Yorubaland from the criminals. He also warned the governor not to order his arrest by security agencies.
But Nigerians were surprised when the video of Igboho’s weekend visit to eject Abdulkadri surfaced on social media (on Friday). While most Yoruba saw it as a liberating move, others interpreted Igboho’s action as an affront on the government of Oyo State and security agencies. The nation is still nursing the controversy that trailed Igboho’s visit.
The man Sunday Igboho
According to him, he was born 47 years ago in Igboho in Oke-Ogun, Oyo State.
Chief Adeyemo hails from Aladinkun compound, Modeke, Igboho, Oorelope Local Government Area. He grew up normally like any other child but began to manifest traits of unusual stubbornness and toughness as a teenager.
He attended primary and junior secondary schools in Igboho before moving to Modakeke in Osun State with his father. His last school in Igboho was Baptist High School. He relocated with his father to Modakeke where he grew up fighting in the community. He learnt a vocation and fraternised with NURTW members, but he is not known as a major member of the union.
He adopted the nickname ‘Igboho’ in Modakeke. He was described as the son of an Igboho man.
Igboho was said to have acquired mystical traditional powers to command guns and other weapons into appearance. This is his most outstanding ability. With this ability and power, he fought on the side of Modakeke during the 1996/97 Ife/Modakeke riot. He left the community after his fame grew, attracting envy among people in Modakeke community.
His fame as a local activist during the Modakeke/Ife riot attracted him to politicians, who took over leadership from the military with the return of civilian rule in 1999.
He worked for a former governor of Osun State and settled in Osogbo for some years. He later worked as an independent traditional security coordinator for a former governor of Oyo State Rashidi Ladoja at the heat of the violent crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from 2004 to 2009.
His success at protecting Ladoja at the PDP rally in Akure, Ondo State capital, in December 2006, where the former governor was believed to be targeted for a major attack, remains a mystery to political watchers.
As a result, his fame rose in Ibadan and Oyo State given that Ladoja enjoyed massive sympathy among the populace, which condemned the way the PDP impeached him ‘illegally’ and gave the governorship ticket to his deputy, Adebayo Alao-Akala, in the 2007 election instead of allowing him (Ladoja). Igboho’s relationship with Ladoja enhanced the former’s reputation among the people.
When the late Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimola (2011-2019) caged the activities of hoodlums and reduced violence and brigandage in the city, Igboho went into the business of selling cars and landed properties. Those who have had encounters with him confirmed that he used to fight for victims of land grabbing. For that, he was given plots of lands.
He is one of the promoters of Oduduwa Republic.