Yoruba rights activist Chief Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho), has warned that his mission to rid the entire South-West of criminal herdsmen, is unstoppable, and that anyone standing in his way, will also be considered a criminal.
Igboho who came to prominence following the decision of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State to issue a week long ultimatum for herdsmen to vacate the State's forests, made the statement in reaction to freezing of his bank account by the Buhari administration.
The Buhari administration has been labeled a "Fulani Government" by aggrieved Nigerians, who accused the president of turning a blind eye to atrocities committed by herdsmen in the Middlebelt and other parts of the country.
Following the ultimatum given by Akeredolu, the President said it was wrong for the Governor to "unilaterally oust thousands of herders who have lived all their lives in the state on account of the infiltration of the forests by criminals."
However, as clarified by the governor and Fani Kayode, the action wasn't taken against Fulani as a whole, nor against law abiding Fulani herders, but against "a bunch of murderous thugs, psychopathic vagabonds, barbaric rapists, merciless ritualists and vicious killers," in Kayode's own words.
The same was said by Igboho whom the North labeled as a 'thug', a "criminal' and an 'outlaw'.
But voices from the North insist that Igboho's mission is against Fulani as a whole irrespective of claims made by leaders from the Southwest.
"Fulani are Fulani, whether they are herders or they are settled Fulani. Fulani is Fulani. So we are talking about a whole community being stereotyped as criminals," Umar Labdo, a Professor of Islamic Political Thought, at the Yusuf Maitama Sule University, Kano, said during an interview with Saturday Sun.
Igboho however, said he is fighting a just cause, and no amount of intimidation by the Buhari administration or those against his mission will stop him from achieving his aim of "putting an end to criminalities in Yorubaland."
“They have frozen my bank accounts because I am fighting a just course. I know Yoruba people are behind me.
“I will not relent. I must achieve my aims by putting an end to criminalities in Yorubaland.
“If they refuse to release my accounts, there will be serious protests across the South-West.
“Yes, the Yoruba are living in fear. They are afraid that the killer-herdsmen might attack them.”