No fewer than two persons were killed during an early morning attack on the residence of Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, in the Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State, his media aide, Olayomi Koiki, has said.
Koiki said in a Facebook Live video, “The situation now is very bad. Two Yoruba sons have been killed in the house of Chief Sunday Igboho. The two dead bodies have been taken away by the military. We do not know of the location where they were taken to.”
Koiki, who disclosed that Igboho’s house was attacked around 1am on Thursday, also identified the attackers to be soldiers.
Koiki said, “I can confirm that those who came are definitely Nigerian soldiers. There are more than 100 soldiers that came.
“The situation is very active as more security operatives in about seven Nigerian Army patrol vans have arrived.”
But he said, “He (Sunday Igboho) is currently safe.”
The house was riddled with bullets while the attackers did not also spare all the vehicles, most of which are SUVs, parked within Igboho’s expansive compound, which they vandalised.
The alleged soldiers said to be dressed in military camouflages, were alleged to have taken away the bodies of some of the house’s occupants they shot dead during the invasion.
When contacted, Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, said he also heard about the incident at Igboho’s house and promised to find out what happened.
Thursday morning’s attack on Igboho’s house occurred hours to a planned rally for the secession of ‘Yoruba Nation’ in Lagos State.
The Yoruba Nation agitator has been going across the South-West geopolitical zone to promote his secessionist idea, citing injustice meted out to the people of the region as well as worsening insecurity as reasons for his agitation.
The latest attack is one of the many reported attacks on Igboho and his Ibadan residence since January 2021 when he issued a seven-day ultimatum to killer herders in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
On January 26, 2021, some faceless hoodlums reportedly attacked the Soka, Ibadan, residence of Igboho and set fire on the house.
Also on February 26, 2021 along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, there was pandemonium when Igboho and his supporters were on their way to meet with 93-year-old Afenifere chieftain, Ayo Adebanjo.
In a viral video, a shirtless Igboho was seen with his men daring security operatives and throwing expletives at the operatives identified as men of the Department of State Services but the attempt failed and the DSS subsequently denied the attempted arrest.
Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, had also said the then Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, ordered the arrest of the rights activist but many Nigerians had condemned such move, insisting that the security agencies should instead summon popular Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who has been seen hobnobbing with bandits in the forests of Zamfara and Niger States of late.