…says ‘I did not mean to insult the monarch, he’s my father’
Popular Yoruba rights activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, has apologised to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and begged for his forgiveness over a statement he made about the monarch’s recent visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja.
Igboho, who had given an eviction notice to Fulani herdsmen to quit Oyo State over their alleged criminal activities, had lambasted the Ooni for allegedly failing to tell President Buhari the truth about the atrocities being perpetrated by killer-herdsmen in the South-West.
The activist had whilst speaking earlier on Wednesday during a virtual ‘Townhall meeting with Yoruba In Diaspora’ criticised Oba Ogunwusi for tackling him after he returned from his visit to Buhari in Abuja.
Igboho had said, “When Ooni met with Buhari over the herdsmen issue, Ooni should have told Buhari the truth but he did not. When Ooni returned, he started tackling me to leave the remaining task to the government to finish. You can imagine that kind of talk?
“Alaafin of Oyo has asked me to meet him over the matter. Alaafin should have been the one invited to meet Buhari but since the Ooni was invited, he should be bold to tell the President the whole truth and make the demands of the Yoruba people known to the President.
“The Ooni disappointed himself. Some politicians are behind Ooni’s latest move. He invited me to his palace but I refused to go. I would have gone if he had represented us well but he did not. I won’t honour any monarch who does not cooperate with me. Enough is enough, the Fulani have done enough.”
But some hours after the town hall meeting, Igboho, in a one minute and 22 second video that surfaced on social media, said he never insulted the Ooni.
The activist, who spoke in Yoruba, however, begged for the monarch’s forgiveness, saying if whatever he had earlier said sounded like an insult to the revered royal father, whom he profusely described as his father, he should be forgiven.
According to him, “They said I insulted the Ooni of Ife. Our father, the Ooni and I as the Olugbon, have spoken on the phone.
“The Yoruba tradition doesn’t permit the insult of elders. But because I was pained by the issue, my tongue was caught up in the moment. I spoke according to how pained I was. It wasn’t the Ooni alone I directed my words at, I also did to other elders.
“It’s a case of father and child. The monarch and I have spoken as well as the Olugbon. I did not insult the Ooni. And if it appears as if I did, he’s our father, my father and he should forgive me.
“I was not referring to only our father, the Ooni. If you watched that video clip very well, what I said was that whenever they get to Abuja, they go there to mind their own personal business. They go there to pursue their own interest. They only go there to sell us to the Fulani. So, it’s a father and son talk. Our father, the Ooni and I have spoken along with our father, the Olugbon. So, I did not insult my father, the Ooni. But if it looks as if I’ve insulted our father, he should forgive me, please.”
Igboho enjoined all Yoruba to come together at this point in time and join hands in protecting Yorubaland from the race’s common enemies and criminals.
He warned his kinsmen against allowing politicians to infiltrate their ranks and betraying the struggle to free Yorubaland from criminals bent on oppressing the people.
“I beg all Yoruba in Nigeria and in the Diaspora, I want us to take issues affecting us as Yoruba and our fatherland very seriously. Let’s all take our family matters seriously. We have had enough of these killings and kidnappings. Let’s all join hands and come together to fight our common enemy. We should not betray one another, we should not listen to those politicians. They were complaining that our father the Ooni had gone to Abuja to collect money. If you watch that video very well, that was what led to the matter as some people were spreading the rumour that our father, the Ooni, had gone to collect bribe from Buhari in Abuja on behalf of Sunday Igboho. But my father, the Ooni, knows that I did not collect a dime from him, I swear by God,” he said.
The activist added that he had not embarked on the crusade against killer-herdsmen for any selfish or pecuniary gain, adding that Yorubaland had more valiant and powerful men than himself who could also pick up the fight against the oppression of the people in the region by foreigners and non-indigenes.
“All I’m doing is to ensure that the Yoruba are not put to shame. Our father must know that we have valiant children. The Fulani too must know that there are many brave men all over Yorubaland. I’m just a fry amongst the brave men in Yorubaland. There are many brave men in Lagos, Osun, who are even stronger than I am. They are also here in Ibadan. There are everywhere and they are stronger,” Igboho said.