The Horrible Things I Went Through In Detention

• Popular Yoruba Activist, SUNDAY IGBOHO Reveals

Popular Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo popular know as Sunday Igboho, began his activism when Fulani herdsmen started killing Yoruba on their farmland. He took the fight upon himself to defend Yoruba and its territory when the Fulani herdsmen were killing without remorse.

Mr Igboho was clear on his agenda and he made it known then. According to him: “Starting from now, we don’t want herdsmen in our land to disturb our farms again. If we meet any killer herdsmen, we are going to face and destroy them.

“If any police attack us for that, we are ready for them. We don’t want Nigeria again but the Yoruba nation. There is no essence for one Nigeria when the major resources in the country are in the hands of the Northerners”. That’s when he became the enemy of The Departement of State Services (DSS).

His house was burnt down. He lost two of his people to the struggle and he was almost killed in over 4 hours fracas that happened a few years ago im his Ibadan residence.

The DSS also took 12 of Igboho’s followers bit later released.

After the incident he fled to Benin Republic and he also had another battle there with their authority.

A few weeks back, Mr Igboho who is now in Germany after he was set free by the government of Benin, spoke in a video about his ordeal in Benin Republic. His detention. His arrest. How he was captured. Read below.

Where did you go after the first scene in Ibadan?

When I left the scene of the incident and everyone was panicked. I granted BBC an interview that I was alive. From there I went to see my mother. Because my mother was scared about what happened, so I had to see her and tell her I was okay. She cried and she asked where I was going next. I told her I was going to see my children abroad until things subside here in Nigeria. So I left there for Cotonou so that I could go to Germany.

Did you even know or did something tell you about the Ibadan incident before it happened?

The first morning they arrived, I noticed some signs in my body, that something was about to happen. But I “prayed” about it but I didn’t know it would happen that way. So something told me I mustn’t sleep. Thank God it didn’t happen when I was sleeping. Even I shouted at them. They started shooting. May God Almighty give those who died in the incident good rest in heaven.

How did you feel about your properties that were destroyed?

When I was coming to this world, I didn’t come with property. I was born poor. My parents were poor, as well. It was when I came to this world I got married and had children. I bought cars as well. The only thing that pained me most was the two lives that were wasted. My brother and friend (Adogan). May their souls rest in peace. The properties are of God. We would leave them behind here on earth. When our fathers like Arisekola Alao and Abiola died, they weren’t buried with their money.

There were many ammunitions they said were recovered in your house, was that true?

It’s a lie. You know the way the government acts. When they can’t arrest you they will find something to implicate you. They brought those guns and I’m sure they had also taken it with them.

Can you also tell us how you were arrested in Benin Republic?

When I was in Cotonuo, my wife Aderopo was with me. She came all the way from Germany. We have 7 children. 6 boys, one girl. They all live in Germany. I told her to come and meet me in Cotonou. I have a German residence. Have had it since but some of those were taken away by the Buhari government. I asked them to meet with the German government on my behalf so that they could issue another document for me so that I could travel with that one. So my wife went to the German authorities and explained what happened to them. She told them I was in Benin and needed documents that could transport me from there to Germany. She had got the document already from them. So when we got to the airport in Benin. I said Ajoke, something was about to happen. The ground was hot. I could feel it. I told her my body was giving me signals but she insisted God had saved us already. So immediately the immigration officer stamped our passports, she said you see, we are saved. Suddenly we saw some policemen. They arrived with guns and handcuffs. They called my name and I answered them and they asked me to follow them. They collected our traveling documents from us. They led us into an office.

They started speaking French but I told them I could speak English not French but one of them said he understood a bit of Yoruba. So he asked me, you are Sunday Igboho, I said yes. The government of Nigeria said you committed treason and that you want to divide the country, and that the Nigerian government tried to arrest you but you ran, so we were asked to arrest you and I asked them, why don’t you tell the Nigerian government to arrest me themselves? During our conversation, my wife asked me the next step, I told her to start praying that I would escape them in a matter of time. So I began to call on God and I walked out of them. I even told them to excuse me while walking out. I took my phone and I left their midst.

Four hours after I left I called Pa Akintoye and others and informed them what happened. When they couldn’t find me, there was a commotion at the airport. They kept searching for me up and down. At that point they had handcuffed my wife. I was calling her to find out where she was but she couldn’t pick her phone in time. After several time, they told her to answer her call. When she finally picked up her phone, I now told her to answer me with yes or no (because I didn’t want them to know all the details). I asked her what happened, but she didn’t respond. I asked her again if she had been detained, and she answered yes. So I asked if I should come, she said no but if I don’t come who will take care of our children in Germany? Did you ask anyone to take care of our children in Germany while coming to Benin? She said no. She said if they can’t find you they will release her and I agreed with her at that moment.

I called her 20 minutes later. She still insisted I shouldn’t come. So she now told me that they were listening to every conversation we had. So I cut the phone. In Germany, if your children fail to show up in school the first day, second day, and third day, the government will come and claim those children. That was the reason why I had to go back. She was mad at me for coming back. When I appeared to them at the airport, they were all scared. They quickly handcuffed me and I asked them to remove my wife’s handcuff but did not listen. They said they would punish me for escaping them and they also said the Nigerian government had warned them over my matter. They said how I escaped being captured in my house in Nigeria was a misery to them. They tied my leg and everywhere. They even handcuffed my wife and I together and led us into a vehicle. When we got inside the vehicle, my wife broke down in tears because she had warned me not to come but I let her know I couldn’t leave her alone there. I told her maybe that was the end because I realized they were taking us to Buhari, so I started telling her where I kept some of my important documents. Like house document etc. She broke down in tears once more and I asked her to stop weeping.

When we almost got to Seme border, they received a phone call and they turned back and took us into an office. My wife told them she wanted to piss, they said she can piss on herself. They didn’t allow her. They put me in one cell and my wife another cell but we can see ourself afar. They tied my leg, hand for seven days. I couldn’t move. Even if I want to defecate, there was a man they assigned to me that would help me undress my trousers to defecate. He would be the person to clean me after. My wife cried all through but we thank God.

You spent almost two years in Cotonou. Did you get any support from our elders?

There was not special support I got from anyone other than God. One of the people that came to see me while I was there was my brother. Somebody I can never forget is Chief Dele Momodu. He came to that prison. I went through a lot in that prison. I was in that German cell for two months. And my wife (Ropo) would be outside all through crying. She would be outside from 7am till night and they won’t allow her to see me. She would be crying, begging them and she would come with food but they won’t allow her to give me. Even my last born. They were there together. I was in the German cell for 2 months. When it was 2 months, somebody in the cell told me about the cell. He said aren’t you the Sunday Igboho, I said yes. He told I could leave there and turn it to a big issue with them because this particular cell was meant for condemned criminals. It’s meant for the people who they want to assassinate. He also said he was sure the president didn’t know I was there because you were fighting for the rights of your people and this shouldn’t be where you should be kept. The person showed me a big sound and he said anytime they want to kill they usually blow it.