Grant amnesty to Sunday Igboho, Maharaj Ji begs Tinubu

The Founder of One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to grant amnesty to Yoruba agitator, Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho who is on self-exile, to return to Nigeria.

Maharaj Ji pleaded with Tinubu to grant the leader of the group a presidential pardon so that he could return from where he is taking refuge.

Adeyemo had left the country after security operatives invaded his residence in Ibadan, Oyo state, during the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government on suspicion that he was allegedly engaging in gunrunning.

He was subsequently arrested and detained in the Benin Republic but was thereafter released in March 2022 to have access to medical services on the condition that he would not move out of the country.

In a statement personally signed by Maharaj Ji on Thursday, he pleaded that Igboho should be allowed to return to Nigeria in the interest of national unity and to move the nation forward.

It stated that the right time is now for President Tinubu to use his presidential prerogative to effect the release of Igboho.

The statement reads in parts: “I urge President Tinubu, who was himself an agitator for democracy during the June 12, 1993 saga, to pardon Chief Adeyemo because his agitation was solely for the security and development of the Yoruba South West region.”

Pledging His support for President Tinubu in his bold quest to move the country forward through developing a democratic system and institutions, Maharaj Ji said: “Perhaps you would all agree with me that the dwindling fortunes of this country have been deeply aggravated by the 1999 constitution which was handed to us by the military, without the input of democratic representations.

“There is no gain in saying that this country needs an urgent rescue from the worsening socio-economic and security ailment of all time, and the first dose of the panacea to cure such crises must and should be the amendment of the so-called 1999 constitution, which successive administrations lack the political will to implement.

“I believe that President Tinubu is a brave leader who has all it takes to engage cerebral socio-political approaches to see to the amendment of the anti-progressive constitution.”

According to Him, Igboho is one of the living spirit of Oduduwa himself and that he speaks the mind of over 70 million Yoruba people throughout the world.

“Sunday Igboho remains an undisputed hero of the Yoruba people today, and that his actions are in accordance with the self-determination clause in the United Nations Charter.

He said Igboho has come to fill a void created by those charged with the responsibility of defending their people in the face of both internal and external aggression.

“Adeyemo did not exceed the frontiers of the ancestral land of his forefathers. What he was determined to do was to guard his people, men, women and children against unprovoked attacks ruthlessly and brutishly unleashed on them and to ensure that conducive atmosphere existed for his people to carry out their legitimate businesses without series of indignities they were notoriously subjected to.”

Maharaj Ji , said Igboho never went out of his way to attack anybody outside of the Yoruba nation, nor does he issue terrorist threats to fellow Nigerians on regular basis, like the pampered “angels of Officialdom.”

The statement added: “Chief Adeyemo is not a threat to any government or any institutions in Nigeria. All his actions are in the self-defense of his people. He should therefore not be demonized.

“Igboho is defender of the defenceless and he is a metaphor for Nigeria. When we have agencies who appear nonchalant, what will come next is for non state actors to take charge. It was because of this same crisis that led to the establishment of Amotekun but nothing seems to have been done and that’s why Igboho is having heroic acceptance.

“He belongs to many cultural groups for the upliftment of the people towards positive growth and understanding of the polarised world of secular society.

“Adeyemo’s mission was meant to put a stop to the iniquities being meted out to Yoruba people, of which he is a proud son. His concern was the security of lives and properties of the people in entire South- West geopolitical zone and not Boko Haram.

“Even after the security apparatus were mistakenly informed about him and got attacked and his house destroyed, he was still adamant that the truth shall come out to prove all allegations against him was false. He is a true Nigerian loved by all sectors of the people.

“There is no where in the southern part of the country you will hear of him in bad taste because his belief in ONE NIGERIA is for equal rights, rule of law, the dignity of all Nigerians and Africans alike.

“Igboho’s mission was meant to put a stop to the iniquities being meted out to Yoruba people, of which he is a proud son.

“He is crusading for the Yoruba nation and he has not committed any offence at all. So any Yoruba man who has not committed any offence and he is being victimised, people will risq up for such a person. Nothing will happen to Sunday Igboho.

“Here is a man whose penchant love for all goes beyond tribal and religious barriers judging by his ever readiness to assist people of both religions to fulfil their obligations before God.”

Maharaj Ji urged the Federal Government to allow Sunday Adeyemo live a free life in the interest of the country’s unity.