24 Hours After IGP Directive, Igboho Still Walks Free As Victims Recount Ordeal

Over 24 hours after the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, ordered the Oyo State Police Commissioner to arrest Sunday Adeyemo aka (Igboho) for his role in the attack on Fulani communities at Iganga, Ibarapa LGA of the state, the suspect is still walking free, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.

Igboho, who had earlier issued a seven-day quit notice to Fulani in the area, reportedly led his supporters to the palace of the Sarkin Fulani of Oyo State, Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, on Friday where they killed three people and razed houses and cars, forcing Fulani resident in the area to flee.

A source close to Igboho told our correspondent on Saturday in Ibadan that Igboho was still going about his usual business at his Soka residence, in Oluyole Local Government Area of the state.

“He has no place to go. He was not at the scene when the incident happened. He had left Igangan before the incident happened. Meanwhile, his mission in Igangan was not to fight anyone but to assure residents of his support for peaceful co-existence as you can see in the video going viral on social media where he encouraged Yoruba people of his support. The only people he asked to leave are terrorists who are causing confusion in the area,” the source said.

Following the attacks on the communities, Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, had on Friday told the BBC Hausa Service that IGP Adamu had directed the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko, to arrest Igboho.

Also, the Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde in a statement through his media aide, Taiwo Adisa, asked the commissioner of police to arrest Igboho for inciting the violence.

When contacted, the governor’s chief press secretary, Mr Adisa, directed our correspondent to ask the police why Igboho has not yet been arrested.

“It is not the duty of the governor to arrest anyone but it is the duty of the police,” he said.

Adisa said the governor didn’t mention anyone’s name but he specifically said miscreants, kidnappers and hoodlums in the state should be arrested.

The Oyo Police Command spokesman, Olugbenga Fadeyi, rejected calls put through to him while text messages sent to him were not replied to.

‘How we escaped attack’

Meanwhile, one of the sons of the Sarkin Fulani, Umar Salihu Abdulkadir Sarki, has narrated how they escaped Friday’s attack on their settlement.

Salihu, who spoke to one of our correspondents from his hiding place, said the attack happened despite assurances given to them by various security agencies in the state.

He said both the police and the DSS urged them not to panic, that nothing would happen to them.

“The Police Area Commander in Ibarapa told me that he was coming with Sunday Igboho and that we should calm down that nothing will happen to us, he told us that they were coming together.

“The Area Command later called us and told us that we should move with Sarki to Igboora and we should take him away; as I was trying to drive him away, the road to Igboora was blocked by the youths and I had no option but to turn back,” he said.