A coalition of Yoruba leaders has urged the Federal Government to clear Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, from its wanted list, insisting that he has committed no crime.
The appeal was made on Friday during a press conference in Ibadan, Oyo State, by the Yoruba Self-Determination Movement.
Speaking at the event, the group’s Deputy Leader, Opeoluwa Akinola, described Igboho’s continued persecution as unjust and politically driven. He called on the government to unfreeze Igboho’s bank accounts, return his confiscated assets, and officially remove him from the wanted list.
According to Akinola, Igboho has been unfairly targeted despite his efforts to defend the Yoruba people from killings, kidnappings, and other violent attacks.
“The Department of State Services illegally invaded his home, killed some of his aides, detained his relatives, and forced him into exile where he was later jailed for months on Nigeria’s request. Till today, his bank accounts remain frozen, and his properties seized, yet no concrete crime has been established against him,” he said.
He stressed that Igboho should not be criminalized since he has not been linked to theft, kidnapping, murder, or any other violent crime. Akinola further accused the government of allowing violent foreign elements to roam freely while restricting Igboho’s freedom in his own homeland.
“It is a bitter irony that Adeyemo cannot move freely in Yorubaland, his fatherland, while those terrorizing our people walk free. We demand the release of his assets, the unfreezing of his bank accounts, and his immediate removal from the wanted list,” the group stated.
The leaders also rejected the controversial claim that “Lagos is no man’s land,” warning that such narratives undermine Yoruba heritage.
Akinola noted that the re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was widely celebrated as proof of Yoruba ownership of Lagos.
“Sanwo-Olu’s victory was a strong reaffirmation of Lagos as a Yoruba land and heritage, and any attempt to distort that truth will not be tolerated,” he added.
