A former Assistant Director with the Department of State Services, Dennis Amachree, on Friday, said Yoruba rights activist, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, should have joined the South-West Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun.
The former DSS official spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme monitored by The PUNCH.
Amachree was reacting to the raid carried out by operatives of the Department of State Services on the residence of Igboho in Ibadan on Thursday morning.
After the raid, the secret police paraded 12 of Igboho’s followers in Abuja on Thursday, saying one other was being profiled. The DSS also said two of Igboho’s guards were killed during a gun duel.
It said a joint team of security operatives raided Igboho’s residence early on Thursday based on an intelligence report that he was stockpiling arms.
“A team of joint security operatives raided the residence of Sunday Adeyemo at Soka in Ibadan. This was based on intelligence that he had stockpiled arms in the place,” said DSS spokesman, Peter Afunaya.
Afunaya added that the team searched the house and subsequently recovered seven AK-47 assault rifles, three pump action guns, 30 fully charged AK-47 magazines, 5,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, five cutlasses, one Jack knife, one pen knife, two pistol holsters, a pair of binoculars, a wallet containing $5, local and international driving licences in his name, ATM cards, a German residence permit No. YO2N6K1NY bearing his name; two whistles, 50 cartridges and 18 walkie-talkies.
Others are three charm jackets/traditional body armour, two laptops, one Toshiba and one Compaq laptops and his passport and those of many others.
Afunaya explained that Igboho and his group, in the guise of campaign for self-determination, had become well-armed and determined to undermine public order.
Commenting on the raid, Amachree said, “The action of the DSS is preemptive and it is also a warning to all those who have been stockpiling arms in different parts of the country.”
“We have Amotekun. Why is Sunday not operating with Amotekun? This is a question that should be asked but he is operating a separate thing different from Amotekun and of course, having all kinds of weapons.
“With all those loaded magazines, that means he is ready for war and I don’t think that is the way to go. If people are going for self-determination, there are peaceful ways of going about it,” the ex-DSS official added.
Back story: I’m not interested in becoming Amotekun head — Igboho
The overwhelming insecurity in the region had forced the six governors of the South-West to inaugurate the security outfit to tackle peculiar security threats in the region. The Amotekun Corps had also got the constitutional backing of the six state assemblies in the region.
Ondo, Ogun, Oyo and Ekiti states have since kick-started the operations of the security outfit endorsed by the governments of the six South-West states last year.
In January 2021, Igboho issued a seven-day ultimatum to ‘killer herders’ in Igangan, in Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
Igboho had enforced same which led to the eviction of the Fulani leader in the rustic town, Seriki Saliu Abdulkadir, and his men who were accused of kidnapping, rape and murder. Property worth millions of naira have reportedly destroyed the eviction.
Later, reports filtered in that Igboho had been asked to take an offer with Amotekun but the activist rejected the offer, insisting he was only interested in driving out ‘killer herders’ from Yorubaland.
“I am not interested in becoming the head of Amotekun. I am not doing. I am not a hunter or a security expert. What kind of embarrassment is that (the offer)?
“Nobody should try to induce me with any position. That is not what I want. I am asking them (governors) to send all killer herdsmen out of our land. That is what I want.”
