From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has described as hypocritical the statement made by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), that the Federal Government was expecting a request for ‘reconciliation’ or ‘political solution’ to the prosecution of the Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, fondly called Sunday Igboho, and Nnamdi Kanu of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) for their agitations for self-determination.

The National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Mr Jare Ajayi, who made this known in a chat with Sunday Sun at the weekend, stated that the government should rather “without further delay, create an opportunity for meetings to be held, where the issues that engendered self-determination agitations would be discussed and resolved amicably.

“To us in Afenifere, and indeed, to many who believe in orderliness and rule of law, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, committed no offence. So, the question of he, or anyone on his behalf, making a case for a political solution does not arise. It was the government, through its agencies, that invaded his house on July 1, 2021, killed two people, vandalized his property and went away with some of his aides and property.

“The same government has been making a lot of efforts to get him extradited from the Republic of Benin to Nigeria. But because the man is not a criminal, it has been difficult to build a case to nail him.

“To further underscore the innocence of the man, as well as the fact that the government is the aggressor, Justices Oladiran Akintola of a State High Court in Ibadan and Obiora Egwaatu of a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, August 4, 2021, gave rulings in favour of Igboho and his aides. Costs running into billions of naira were even awarded against the Federal Government.”

The Afenifere spokesman observed that the government is now talking about ‘reconciliation’ in order to save its dented face, adding that since the government has now realized that it had made grave mistakes in the cases of the two self-determination agitators, Igboho and Kanu, it should do the needful by discontinuing the legal processes it is pursuing against them.

“It should also allow them to move freely and enjoy their fundamental human rights fully,” Ajayi stated.

He noted that the government should also comply with the verdicts already given by the courts in respect of the agitators and compensate them for what they have suffered.