Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

I am in Benin Republic to solidarise with agitator, says Akintoye

By Kehinde Olatunji (Lagos) and Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan)
09 August 2021   |   3:04 am
The apex leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, yesterday, refuted media reports that he had left Nigeria

Prof Banji Akintoye

The apex leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-determination groups, Ilana Omo Oodua, Prof. Banji Akintoye, yesterday, refuted media reports that he had left Nigeria to escape the plot of the Federal Government to arrest him.

Akintoye said he was truly in the Republic of Benin, but not on the run, as widely reported.

In a statement made available to journalists by his Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye, the emeritus professor of History said he was in the Francophone country to co-ordinate and supervise how to legally rescue the detained Yoruba Nation activist, Chief Sunday ‘Ighoho’, from remand as soon as possible.

Akintoye said that just like Ighoho, he had committed no offence to warrant being arrested, intimidated, or harassed.

He vowed to return to Nigeria as soon as Ighoho is released by the Benin Republic government to continue the struggle for the actualisation of the Yoruba Nation, saying: “It is No Retreat, No Surrender.”

The renowned scholar also debunked the media reports that Igboho had been abandoned, and that the activist is personally funding the court cases against the Nigerian and Benin Republic governments to secure his (Ighoho) and aides’ release, saying “socio-cultural and self-determination groups within and beyond the shores of Nigeria under my supervision paid for every dime spent in court cases in Cotonou, Lagos, and Abuja respectively till date.”

He said: “The only court case not under my coordination and supervision, and which the Yoruba socio-cultural and self-determination groups are not paying for is the one in Ibadan High Court, Oyo State.

“The lawyer handling the Ibadan case, Chief Yomi Aliyu, said we should leave it to him, and that we should not bother on the funding.”

0 Comments