‘Kanu still detained because he rejected Tinubu’s terms’
The Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, yesterday, described the position of rights activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) during the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore, on transactional politics as inconsequential.

Igboho said that his agitation for effective security in the South-West and support for President Bola Tinubu’s second-term bid in 2027 remain his inalienable constitutional rights, rooted in promoting the Yoruba’s collective interests and Nigeria’s healthy development.

In a statement by his Media Aide, Olayomi Koiki, Igboho, who chided Sowore for reportedly labelling his activism “amala politics”, in a recent viral video circulating on social media, declared the development an inconsequential rant, which should be ignored by the public.

The statement read in part: “We strongly reject the characterisation of Igboho’s activism as transactional. Such a myopic position misrepresents the intent and focus of our agitation on effective grassroots security in the South-West, and Nigeria as a whole. How many protests did Sowore organise to push for my freedom? Sowore’s claim of fighting for the masses contradicts his daily lodging expenses of N450,000 at a popular Lagos Hotel.

“I cannot be compelled to endorse political figures such as Peter Obi or Atiku Abubakar, or even align with Sowore’s political platform. I have the right to make independent political decisions based on the security and collective interests of the Yoruba people.

“Igboho‘s advocacy places a premium on addressing insecurity in Yorubaland, marked by persistent violence, including the killing of farmers, kidnappings along highways, and attacks on traditional rulers and royal institutions.”

Koiki, however, said that these concerns form the basis of Igboho’s movement, rather than any ambition for political office or revolutionary leadership.

Meanwhile, Sowore had claimed that the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu is largely due to the separatist leader’s refusal to accept certain conditions allegedly accepted by Igboho.

Sowore made the remark while comparing the political approaches of the two separatist figures and their relationship with the Federal Government led by Bola Tinubu.

According to him, Nnamdi Kanu is in jail today because he’s different from Sunday Igboho. If Kanu were like Sunday Igboho, he would be campaigning for President Tinubu in the South-East now.

“Because it’s the same terms they gave to Igboho that Kanu rejected over the last 10 years.”

Sowore said his recent interaction with Kanu reinforced his belief that the two men could not be compared.