The National President of Yoruba Youth Socio-Cultural Association, Olalekan Hammed, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari’s government against the planned arrest of Sunday Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho, for expelling kiIIer Fulani herdsmen from Igangan in Ibarapa north local government area of Oyo state.
Hammed, who said this in an interview with PUNCH, said arresting Igboho will trigger a crisis in the area.
He said Igboho offered to do what security agencies had not been able to do for the people, saying many indigenes of the land had been maimed and killed for so long by herdsmen.
According to him, arresting Igboho will make the people lose confidence in the Federal Government.
He said, “Ibarapa youths may react violently if Sunday Igboho is arrested. They will also lose hope in both the federal and the state government.
“Ibarapa and other communities across Yoruba land seriously need to be guaranteed safety. So, any attempt to arrest Igboho will make the people think the government wants the menace of bandits in their communities to continue.”
He said the police should not arrest Igboho because he did not ask Fulani to leave Yorubaland but criminals.
He added, “The President’s body language which is boosting criminal herders’ moral has already pushed the entire country in a state of anarchy.”
Former Minister of Aviation and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, had also warned President Buhari over the planned arrest of Sunday Adeyemo, describing the move as "dangerous, reckless and counter productive".
He said, "When the Northern youths demanded that Igbos should leave the north no-one was arrested. Why should Sunday be arrested or kiIIed for asking KILLER Fulani herdsmen to leave SW?"
"I advise the FG to tread softly because Sunday has the full support of the Yoruba nation because he has spoken for the people. KiII him and you make him a martyr for Oduduwa, arrest him and you make him the greatest hero of the Yoruba since independence. Whichever way he wins."