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OPC cautions against clampdown on Igboho’s supporters, others

By Seye Olumide (South-West Bureau Chief) and Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan)
26 July 2021   |   4:14 am
The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), at the weekend, cautioned the Federal Government to desist from any attempt to clamp down on self-determination agitators, warning that such could only exacerbate national crises.

Sunday Igboho

• Group, APC chieftain say FG intolerant, making hero out of Igboho
• Olubadan sends delegation to Cotonou

The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), at the weekend, cautioned the Federal Government to desist from any attempt to clamp down on self-determination agitators, warning that such could only exacerbate national crises.

A statement by the OPC Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, flayed Federal Government’s approach in Igboho’s ordeals.

It maintained that the use and application of force on self-determination agitators had only justified Federal Government’s lack of respect for human rights and intolerance for the views of others.

While condemning last Monday’s arrest of Sunday Igboho by the International Criminal Police Organisation at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, the OPC publicity scribe described the treatment meted out to Igboho in Nigeria and also in Cotonou as very unpleasant.

The OPC, therefore, urged all Yoruba groups, traditional rulers and other well-meaning Nigerians not to leave Igboho in the lurch at this trying moment, declaring that the embattled Yoruba nation agitator had been peaceful in his self-determination approach and deserves to enjoy his liberty wherever he is in the world.

IN similar vein, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Chief Niyi Akintola, yesterday, chided the Federal Government, especially the security agents, on the manner the travail of the Yoruba freedom fighter, ,Sunday Igboho, is being handled, warning that the government is turning him to a hero.

Akintola stated this while speaking with The Guardian in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

He said: “They are inadvertently turning him to a hero. If they don’t know, somebody somewhere should let them know that there are millions of Sunday Igbohos outside there. There are many people who believe in what is doing. Look at the number of people who turned out for him any time he went for rallies. See the number of people that turned for him even in Benin Republic.

“Yes, Sunday Igboho has made his own mistakes in a way.

“Notwithstanding the mistakes, the government is not handling it very well. Security agents did not handle it very well.”

MEANWHILE, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji, yesterday, said he had sent a delegation to Cotonou, Benin Republic, to observe the proceedings of the court case involving Adeyemo.

Oba Adetunji, who stated this at his Popoyemoja, Ibadan Palace while exchanging views with some leaders of thought, said those sent to observe the court proceedings would be in court unfailingly today.

He said the decision became necessary to allay the fears of several people who besieged his palace to accuse him of folding his arms over the travails of Sunday Igboho and his co-travellers.

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