Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has broken his silence on the controversial 2021 raid on his Ibadan residence, insisting he never fled the house during the operation and dismissing claims that he escaped by transforming into a cat.
Speaking on Monday while receiving a delegation of Muslim clerics at his residence in Ibadan, Igboho recounted the events of the early morning raid carried out by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), saying he remained inside the house from the moment the security team arrived until they left.
According to him, the operatives stormed his residence around 1:30 a.m., firing gunshots after hearing his voice. He claimed they used explosives to force their way into the building after planting what he described as dynamite on the burglary-proof entrance.
“I was naked, but upon hearing their voice, I wore a jean and shirt. One mind was telling me to surrender to them; the other was telling me not to surrender, else I would be killed,” Igboho said. He alleged that the operatives continued shooting without seeing him and threatened his personal assistant, identified as Dudu, while demanding that he open the door.
The activist also addressed rumours that have circulated for years about his escape. “I didn’t turn into a cat. They even killed it, thinking it was me. They even brought a fake herbalist who was just making incantation and performing rituals. I was in the house watching them, but they didn’t see me,” he claimed.
Igboho further alleged that one of his relatives, who was partially blind, was shot after security operatives mistook him for an attacker. He claimed the bodies of those killed during the operation were taken away as evidence that the raid had taken place, adding that he believed divine intervention, following prayers by Muslim clerics, saved his life.
The DSS conducted the raid on Igboho’s Soka residence in Ibadan on July 1, 2021, after months of tension between the activist and the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. At the time, the agency said it recovered firearms and ammunition from the property, arrested 13 of his associates and confirmed that two of his aides died during what it described as an exchange of gunfire.
Following the raid, Igboho fled Nigeria but was later arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic, while attempting to travel to Germany. After months of legal proceedings, he was released by Beninese authorities and has since remained in self-imposed exile, where he continues to campaign for the creation of an independent Yoruba Nation.
