Reported by: L. Imafidon | Edited by: Jevaun Rhashan
A fresh dispute has opened within Yoruba political and cultural circles after a socio-cultural organisation, Ìgbìnmó Májékóbájé Ilé-Yorùbá, publicly urged Sunday Adeyemo, widely known as Sunday Igboho, to stop threatening citizens over the 2027 election and instead confront the insecurity ravaging parts of Kwara State. The group’s statement, issued on March 27 and attributed to its convener, Olusola Badero, through Home Director Princess Balogun, accused Igboho of intimidating Yoruba people who do not share his support for President Bola Tinubu and said his current posture contradicts the image he built during the peak of the Yoruba self-determination agitation.
According to the statement as reported by Afrika Eyes, the group argued that Igboho should be focusing on armed violence and abductions affecting Yoruba communities rather than political warnings directed at people dissatisfied with the federal government. The organisation specifically referenced what it described as the presence of “Fulani terrorists” in parts of Kwara, using that claim to question why a figure long associated with grassroots security rhetoric would now be more visible in partisan disputes than in responding to rural insecurity. That allegation reflects the group’s framing; the available reports do not show independent evidence from security agencies tying Igboho to any current security intervention in Kwara.
The row did not emerge in isolation. It follows a string of public comments attributed to Igboho in which he backed Tinubu’s re-election bid and warned opposition figures, including Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar, against campaigning in the South-West ahead of 2027. TheCable reported that he was said to have told supporters to “wear trainers boots” if they intended to campaign for opposition parties because he would make them run, while also declaring that the South-West would vote “100 percent” for Tinubu. A ThisDay commentary separately described the situation as one in which Igboho was effectively threatening that only Tinubu would be allowed to campaign in the region, underscoring growing anxiety about intimidation in the political space.
Another strand of the controversy came from Igboho’s camp itself. In a report by Punch, his spokesman Olayomi Koiki rejected claims that Igboho had abandoned his original cause and said his advocacy remained rooted in protecting lives, land and property in Yoruba territory. Koiki said insecurity across Yorubaland, including attacks on farmers, highway kidnappings and assaults on traditional rulers, still formed the basis of Igboho’s agitation. He also challenged activist Omoyele Sowore to assess insecurity in Ondo State and other parts of the region rather than dismissing the movement as political theatre. That response is important because it shows Igboho’s allies still want to frame him primarily as a regional security voice, even as his recent political remarks have changed public perception.
The criticism now directed at him has been building for weeks. Sahara Reporters earlier reported that the same Yoruba union had already distanced itself from Igboho’s alleged support for Tinubu and the APC, saying Yoruba lives could not be traded for political interests. Search results from that report indicate the union was again represented by Olusola Badero and Princess Balogun, suggesting an organised and sustained campaign by the group rather than a one-off reaction. In that earlier pushback, the union reportedly questioned whether Igboho’s alignment with the ruling party was compatible with the insecurity still confronting Yoruba communities.
What gives the latest statement greater traction is the security context in Kwara. The state has faced repeated attacks in recent months, especially in rural communities. In February, Daily Trust reported that bandits released a video showing 176 abducted residents from Woro, while civil society groups demanded urgent action over the mass kidnapping. More recently, armed men attacked an ECWA church in Omugo community in Ifelodun Local Government Area during worship. Channels Television reported that eight worshippers were abducted and three later rescued, while Premium Times and Punch reported that kidnappers later demanded as much as N1 billion for those still in captivity. Those incidents have reinforced the argument of critics who say insecurity in Kwara is not theoretical or rhetorical but an active emergency.
The wider concern goes beyond one church raid or one statement by one activist. Associated Press reported this week that an improvised explosive device killed at least one person near Woro in the Kaiama district, an area that had already come under deadly attack earlier in the year. AP said the district had previously been targeted by armed groups who killed more than 160 people in February, prompting military deployment by President Tinubu’s administration. That reporting added an international dimension to the insecurity narrative and showed why references to Kwara now resonate strongly in national political arguments.
At the same time, several Yoruba groups have been escalating their language about security threats in the South-West and adjoining areas. Punch reported on a recent communiqué in which pan-Yoruba groups warned of a “new terror phase,” alleged that political and ideological sponsors were backing terrorism, and called for restructuring and state police. The communiqué also lamented killings, attacks on traditional rulers and explosives planted on highways. That broader environment helps explain why Igboho’s critics see a contradiction between his older persona as a regional defender and his newer role as an outspoken supporter of Tinubu’s second-term ambition.
The political implications are significant. Nigeria’s 2027 contest is still some distance away, but the language now entering the debate is already troubling many observers. TheCable argued that the use of threats by non-state political actors reflects a dangerous pattern in which elections are no longer treated strictly as contests of persuasion. ThisDay made a similar point, warning that telling opponents they cannot campaign in a region could inflame the country at a time when banditry, terrorism and separatist tensions are already straining the federation. Even where some of the language around Igboho comes through commentary rather than straight news reporting, the underlying concern is consistent: coercive rhetoric is increasingly being normalised.
What remains unresolved is whether Igboho will respond directly to the new challenge from Ìgbìnmó Májékóbájé Ilé-Yorùbá or attempt to clarify the exact meaning of his earlier comments on Tinubu and the opposition. There is, for now, no publicly available response from him to this specific March 27 statement in the material reviewed. What is clear is that the dispute has exposed a fault line inside Yoruba public discourse: one side argues that Tinubu deserves organised political backing, while the other insists that no activist who rose on the back of communal security fears should be seen threatening dissenters while rural communities in places like Kwara remain under attack. Until that contradiction is addressed, the controversy is likely to deepen.
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