The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the arrest of Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, over an eviction order he gave to Fulanis in Oyo State.
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, confirmed this in an interview with BBC Hausa.
Shehu said on BBC Hausa Service that IGP Adamu told him over the phone that he had order the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, to arrest Igboho immediately and transfer him to Abuja.
“Garba said he just got off the telephone with the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police, who confirmed to him that he had ordered the arrest of Igboho, who is to be brought to Abuja,” the BBC report said.
“Igboho is among topics that have generated public discuss on social media in Nigeria on Friday since he visited Igangan in Ibarapa Local Government (of Oyo State) where he insisted that all Fulani residents in Oyo State, must leave as long as kidnapping continues.
Igboho, the Akoni Oodua of Yoruba land, has been described as a activist politician, Last week he gave a seven-day ultimatum to herdsmen in Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo State to leave the area. He accused the leaders of the Fulani in the area of being responsible for the rising tide of insecurity in the area, especially kidnapping.
On Friday, Igboho and his supporters were reported to have moved into the Fulani settlement in the town to eject the Seriki (leader of) Fulani , Salihu Abdukadir, and some other herdsmen accused of being behind the rising cases of kidnapping in the area.
Igboho had accused the Fulani leader of being part of the kidnapping gangs operating in the area. According to him, the leader was involved in the settlement and receipt of ransom paid by kidnap victims.
The move by Igboho and his supporters was said to have led to in the area.
Igboho’s order came on a similar one by the governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, who ordered Fulani herdsmen in the stat to vacate government’s forest reserves within a week.
Akeredolu said the herdsmen had converted the reserves into hideouts for criminals, who kidnap people and take the victims to the forests while negotiating for ransom.
“Mallam Garba Shehu said government was having a hard time punishing (such) offenders because of the activities of human rights organisations,” the BBC report said.
“Garba Shehu said the order given by the Inspector General of Police, for now, is that Igboho should be arrested and brought to Abuja to be taken to court to face prosecution.”
The presidency on Tuesday criticized governor Akeredolu’s notice to the Fulani hersdmen in Ondo. In a statement issued by Shehu, the government said the state government lacked the power to ask the herders, whom it said had lived in the area for years, out.
In Oyo State, governor Seyi Mankinde has warned against anyone fanning ethnic embers, saying that the war was against criminals and not against any particular group.
“For people stoking ethnic tension, they are criminals and once you get them, they should be arrested and treated like common criminals. For this administration, the major pillar for us is security, because we know that all the good economic plans we have won’t be possible in an atmosphere of chaos and insecurity,” he said while receiving the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mrs Ngozi Onadeko,
“So, when people say things that are neither lawful nor within the spirit of Nigeria’s Constitution, it is not acceptable here. And they cannot hide under the guise of protecting Yoruba interest to perpetuate chaos in the state.”
