Fuji maestro K1 De Ultimate calls on Tinubu to pardon Sunday Igboho and allow him return to Nigeria

FUJI musician Wasiu Ayinde popularly known K1 De Ultimate has called on President Bola Tinubu to pardon embattled Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Adeyemo otherwise known as Sunday Igboho who is currently living in exile in Benin Republic.

On July 1 2021, men of the Nigerian Department of State Security (DSS) raided Mr Adeyemo's Ibadan home, killing two of his aides and arresting 13 others. Although Mr Adeyemo managed to escape, his home was turned inside out with the DSS seizing items including his international passport, claiming he was stockpiling weapons.

Subsequently, Mr Igboho fled to the Republic of Benin and was arrested at Cotonou airport on July 18 2021 while trying to board a plane to Germany. Subsequently, the Nigerian authorities put pressure on their Beninoise counterparts to get Mr Igboho deported but as no formal charges were presented in court, all Benin Republic could do was keep him in detention.

On March 7 last year, the Beninoise authorities released Mr Igboho from custody and handed over to Professor Banji Akintoye the president of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide. He has since been living in Benin Republic, lying low and staying out of the limelight, making no public appearances.

With President Muhammadu Buhari now out of office, the threat from armed Fulani herdsmen is expected to disappear, thus eliminating the need to oppose them. With no armed threat, Mr Igboho's movement will also cease to exist and it is hoped that Nigerians will live in harmony once again after the divisiveness of the Buhari eight years.

Making the appeal for Mr Igboho's release during a live performance, K1 De Ultimate urged President Tinubu to harmonise all interests, premising his argument on Nigeria’s unity. He added that Sunday Igboho’s pardon would enable him return to Nigeria and enable Nigerians of all ethnic groups live in peace together.

K1 De Ultimate said: “Asiwaju, please anyone who has offended you, kindly forgive them. Irrespective of their tribes Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, we need to embrace ourselves. Akanbi, please let Sunday Igboho come back home, he’s one of our own.

"One cannot say because one’s daughter has ample buttocks, he would put the waist beads on another man’s daughter. Let Sunday Igboho return to his roots, likewise, let other agitators from various regions, call their leaders to a roundtable discussion."

Sunday Igboho was released in March 2022 to get medical attention on the condition that he would not leave the West African country. Since his release, he has remained confined within Cotonou and it remains to be seen what the new Nigerian government will do about him and other agitators like Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra.