By Yusuf Boluwatife
Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has cried out to the government of the Republic of Benin to free the Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, who is currently in prison custody in the West African country.
Addressing journalists on Friday at Freedom Park, Lagos, Soyinka said, “This is an appeal to the government of the Republic of Benin. Why are you keeping the victim in your prison? What crime did he commit against your state that you are holding him in prison, instead of letting him continue his journey? Igboho has not committed any crime against any known law in this nation.
“Thus, to ask for his repatriation is adding insult to injury. You invaded his house, destroyed his property, chased him into the wilderness and you are pursuing him. We ask the government of the Republic of Benin to release the man to continue his business which was interrupted unjustly. Please, rectify this error and don’t compound any further by holding Sunday Igboho in prison one day long.”
Soyinka also condemned the Federal Government’s role in Igboho’s travails and shunned calls for the repatriation of Sunday Adeyemo by the Department of Security Service (DSS) and the government.
He added, “We are calling on the United Nations to intervene and stop this slave trade; to live up to its noble intentions, declarations and rescue these children and put a stop to this act. If Nigeria continues to stand on her sovereignty, I leave this to the experts, I am talking as a layman, I think the protocols of the UN enable the organisation to declare sections of this country under the UN.
“If the government has failed to protect its own people and failed to fulfil its responsibility under protocols it’s a signatory to, the UN has a right and responsibility to declare those zones UN protectorates. We don’t want what we are undergoing now to become the new normal peculiar to the Nigerian nation.”
