On December 11, 2020, four assassins took the life of Dr. Fatai Aborode, an Analytical Chemist turned politician, in Igangan, a town in Ibarapa East Local Government, Oyo State. Early that morning, Dr. Aborode and his Farm Manager, Mr. Bolanle Olanrewaju, went to his farm and, at about 4.30 PM, both men were returning home, riding on Olanrewaju’s motorcycle, when they were accosted at gunpoint by the assailants.

Thinking they were armed robbers, Dr. Aborode pleaded that they be not harmed, promising to give them any amount of money the assailants wanted. As a couple who chanced on the unfortunate event and was also held reported, the assailants, armed with guns, machetes, and charms, replied that they were not interested in Dr. Aborode’s money, rather that they were paid to kill him. Although the couple and Mr. Olanrewaju escaped, Dr. Aborode was not that lucky, the assailants killed him.

Prior to Dr. Aborode’s murder, a number of kidnapping-for-ransom and assassinations had occurred in the Oke-Ogun area. Notable examples include Oko-Oloyun and Opeoluwa Oladipo – the fiancé of Modupeoluwa Oyetoso, a female farmer who was kidnapped and only regained her freedom after her parents paid an undisclosed amount of money as ransom. Opeoluwa Oladipo, Modupeoluwa’s fiancé, was shot as he tried to escape their assailants. As in the cases of Oko Oloyun, Opeoluwa Oladipo and Modupeoluwa Oyetoso, Fulani herdsmen were believed to have perpetrated these dastardly acts and numerous other ones.

In the last one or two years, Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State, like in other parts of the country, had recorded multiple cases of kidnapping-for-ransom and assassinations, armed robbery and farm encroachments – all of which were blamed on Fulani herdsmen. It was against this backdrop that Mr. Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, issued a seven-day ultimatum to the leader (Sarkin) of Fulani nomadic settlers in Igangan – Alhaji Salisu Abdul-Kadri to vacate Igangan within seven days. As Sunday Igboho maintained, the murder of Dr. Aborode was not only carried out at the instance of the Sarkin, but he also supervised the assassination.

In series of video clips, Sunday Igboho claimed that Sarkin’s men had encroached on Dr. Aborode’s farm, eating up crops and destroying the farm in the process. As Igboho claimed, Dr. Aborode, on the day he was killed, went to lodge a complaint with the Sarkin. Rather than listening to Dr. Aborode, the Sarkin was reported to have ordered his boys to tie Dr. Aborode to a tree and butchered him.

This claim not only incensed Igangan youths, but also others across Oke-Ogun and Yorubaland in general. Enraged and seething with anger, many Yoruba people supported Igboho’s ultimatum, despite that Engineer Seyi Makinde, the Governor of Oyo State, had denounced Igboho for issuing such an ultimatum, emphasizing that the Sarkin and other Fulanis were entitled under the law to reside in the area and not to be harassed or molested by anyone.

In one video clip, Sunday Igboho, who visited Dr. Aborode’s aged father, led a group of protesting youths at Igangan who, contrary to the state’s position on the matter, demanded that the Sarkin be arrested with immediate effect. In this video clip, Igboho described Dr. Aborode, whom he called “Egbon mi” (my elder brother), as having spent 20 years in Germany where he studied and obtained his doctorate degree, before returning home to invest in commercial agriculture. He lamented the assassination, describing it as “cutting him down in his prime” and demanding that all Yoruba should rise-up in unison to repel the onslaught of Fulani herdsmen “lori ile e Baba wa” (on our ancestral land). He promised not only to get justice and revenge for the Aborodes and Oke-Ogun, but also to take his agitation to expel the Fulani herdsmen from Yorubaland to other states in Nigeria’s southwest region.

True to his words, at the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum, Sunday Igboho with a large following and armed to the teeth invaded the abode of Alhaji Salisu, the Sarkin Fulani of Igangan and expelled everyone there. After hours of engagement, four of the Sarkin’s men lay dead on the ground, fleet of exotic cars and houses belonging to the Sarkin, his family members and others at the abode were burnt down. The Sarkin however escaped. He has since relocated to Baboko in Ilorin, Kwara State.

In the course of a fieldwork on farmer-herder conflict in Oke-Ogun between 2010 and 2013, a number of people, including two Sarkins, had mentioned to me that the Sarkin Fulani of Igangan, Alhaji Salisu Abdul-Kadri was profiting from crime and criminality that dominated the area since the return to democracy in 1999. During this time, not only did Alhaji Salisu Abdul-Kadri deny the allegation, but also pointed out that he had arrested and handed many Fulani herdsmen who were engaging in armed robbery to the police. He boasted that he had, on numerous occasions, assisted the police in bursting criminal syndicates in the area and that many Fulani herdsmen either in jail, serving terms or in police custody, awaiting trial were those that he personally arrested and handed to the police. He noted that the allegation that he was profiting from crime and criminality was not only untrue, but also a product of hate.

The Sarkin noted further that the day before Sunday Igboho and his men invaded his abode, he and his men arrested some Yoruba kidnappers in Igangan and Tapa and handed them over to the police. Notwithstanding his claims, many in Igangan confirmed that, prior to Dr. Aborode’s assassination, the Sarkin mediated in ransom negotiations on a number of occasions and wondered why he did not hand-over those kidnappers to the police instead of helping them negotiate ransom payments.

In an exclusive interview with Mrs. Olanrewaju Aborode – the widow of Dr. Aborode, it was revealed that the circumstances surrounding the life and education of Dr. Aborode, his relationship with the Fulani community in Igangan and its environs and his eventual assassination were completely different from the narratives Sunday Igboho peddled.

“My husband neither studied nor worked in Germany. He did not even live there.” Mrs. Aborode noted.

As the family revealed, in 1984, young Fatai Aborode completed his secondary school education at Igboora High School and proceeded to the University of Lagos where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in 1988. He followed this up with a Master of Science in Chemistry at the University of Ibadan and completed his postgraduate education at Ibadan in 1991. He secured a position with the Quality Management System Department of the Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc, Sagamu, Ogun State on June 5, 1995. He retired from WAPCO on February 9, 2007, after twenty-six years.

Before his retirement, Dr. Fatai Aborode had started a PhD programme in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He bagged his doctorate degree in 2011.

“My father did not study in Germany. While studying at Aberdeen, he was supplying charcoal to different Western nations, including Germany, France and the Netherlands.” Abdulahi Aborode, Dr. Fatai Aborode’s son noted. “My husband worked with WAPCO in Nigeria for 26 years, not with anyone in Germany.” Mrs. Aborode corroborated her son’s claims.

Where then did Sunday Igboho come across the information he was peddling about Dr. Aborode? “It was not just that, his narrative on how my husband died differs from what those who witnessed his assassination told us.” According to Mrs. Aborode, her husband and the Farm Manager were returning from the farm at about 4.30 pm when four armed men forced them off the motorcycle they were riding. Taking them for armed robbers, Dr. Aborode pleaded with them, promising to avail them with whatever amount of money they might ask. A couple who was also riding on a motorcycle chanced on the incident and one of the assailants held them at gunpoint a distance away from where Dr. Aborode was held.

As the couple recounted, the assailants refused Dr. Aborode’s offer of money and informed him that they were hired to kill him. Two of the assailants were with Dr. Aborode, while one was with the couple and the other was with the Farm Manager – all held at gunpoint.

Late Dr. Fatai Aborode, assassinated at Igangan on December 11, 2020

Unable to kill Dr. Aborode by bullet, the two assailants resorted to using their machetes. Fearing that they might be overpowered, the assailant with the couple left them to join others in killing Dr. Aborode – the couple took the opportunity to flee. As the Farm Manager claimed, the assailant who was holding him hostage at gunpoint also left to join his colleagues, which gave him – the Farm Manager – opportunity to also escape. He claimed to have gone straight to the police station.

Reacting to this, Abdullahi, late Dr. Aborode’s son, noted: “We were told two stories, one by the Farm Manager and the other that was made popular by Mr. Sunday Igboho. We don’t know the actual details, as we were not there. We cannot go on the record to say this is exactly how he was killed and why he was killed. What is however evident is that he was a victim of the chronic insecurity in Nigeria.”

Given the eyewitness accounts above, one wonders where and how Sunday Igboho came about his narratives and why no one, so far, has challenged him on the veracity of his claims. Could Sunday Igboho have deliberately fabricated these narratives to take attention away from the real killers of Dr. Aborode?

Not only was Sunday Igboho wrong on how Dr. Aborode was killed, he was also not correct on the nature of relationship between the Fulani community and Dr. Aborode. Contrary to Igboho’s claim, Dr. Aborode’s family had a cordial relationship with the Fulani community in Igangan. As Dr. Aborode’s widow noted, penultimate week before Dr. Aborode’s gruesome murder, he went to the Sarkin to request the entire Fulani community to bring their animals to his over 45 acres of poorly grown corn fields to feed. He afterwards gave a whooping sum of two hundred and fifty thousand naira (250,000.00 naira) to purchase salt for distribution among members of the Fulani community. Corroborating these claims, Alhaji Salihu AbdulKadir, the expelled Sarkin Fulani, noted that out of about 40 people who were working on Dr. Aborode’s farm on the day he was gruesomely murdered, 17 were Fulani women.

He went further to say:

“It is sad and shocking to hear of his gruesome murder. Who would ever wish a fellow man to be killed in a brutal manner like that? He was nice to the Fulani community. He used to engage some of our people during harvest. Only recently, he gave us salt to share among our people.”

Given the above, it is important to know why Sunday Igboho fooled us all with his twisted stories about where Dr. Aborode lived, the way he was killed, and his employment records. Did Sunday Igboho deliberately take us on a wild goose-chase, taking advantage of the insecurity in the country, to range us against the Fulani pastoralists at Igangan, thereby making them a scapegoat and object of our collective anger?

Was Sunday Igboho fed with lies? If so, by who? Did he fabricate these lies by himself? If so, for what purpose? It is also possible that he exaggerated the facts. Even if, it is logical to ask: for what purpose? Whichever way his wrong and untrue assertions are interpreted, the insecurity situation that enveloped Yorubaland and Nigeria characterized by multiple instances of farm encroachment and destruction, armed robberies and gang-raping of women, kidnapping-for-ransom and killings by Fulani herdsmen, ensured that Yoruba people followed Sunday Igboho, turning him into an instant hero, almost without any questions asked.

So, what role did Sunday Igboho’s lies, fabricated, and exaggerated narratives play in the anti-Fulani violence that arose in Oke-Ogun, Ibadan, and the entire Southwest Nigeria following Dr. Aborode’s death? Was this a calculated attempt or part of a scheme to distract attention from the real killers of Dr. Aborode? Although the clamor for a state police started many years before Dr. Aborode’s death, but it can also be asked: what role did Sunday Igboho’s lies, fabricated, and exaggerated narratives play in the widespread demand for and acceptance of the Western Nigeria Security Network otherwise known as Amotekun, a quasi-paramilitary vigilante group established almost immediately after the assassination of Dr. Aborode in a number of states in southwest Nigeria?

Given Sunday Igboho’s antecedents, it is possible that his lies and misrepresentations were deliberate and could aim at steering us away from the real killers of Dr. Aborode.

Chief Adeniyi Sunday Adeyemi (aka Sunday Igboho)

Who is Sunday Igboho?

Born in Igboho, Oyo State on 10 October 1972, little Sunday relocated to Modakeke with his father in 1985. As a young man, Sunday was a happy-go-lucky fellow, a clown, and an easy-going boy. After dropping out of school, Sunday became a motorcycle repairer. He however gained notoriety during the Ife-Modakeke intra-ethnic conflict that engulfed Yorubaland between 1997 and 2000.

Igboho’s decision to join forces with the Modakeke to fight the Ife resulted from the burning of his father’s house during the conflict. At the initial stage, he was assisting in delivering bullets to Modakeke warriors at different warfronts. He then graduated to carrying guns. He was a veritable terror during the conflict, especially with his double barrel gun and an armless bulletproof vest. At the end the conflict, he did not return to his motorcycle mechanic job, but joined the Modakeke branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) under the leadership of Mr. Isamotu (also known as “Double”).

Under Double, he was able to buy an 18-seater bus, which he was using for commercial transportation. No sooner had peace returned than Sunday Igboho and Isamotu Double sparked another round of violence. This time, rather than with the Ife, it was with members of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) popularly known as Okada riders. Sunday and Double wanted members of ACOMORAN to register under the NURTW while the Okada riders, led by one Okirika, preferred independence. The ensuing fracas was so bad that numerous people were killed and most schools in Ile-Ife and Modakeke were closed down for days.

To bring peace to the community, the Osun State government set up the Modakeke Peace Committee under the leadership of Mr. Yekini Awopetu. The Peace Committee recommended the arrest and trial of Sunday Igboho, Isamotu Double, Okirika, and many others. Both Okirika and Double were killed during the conflict while Igboho escaped death by fleeing into the police station. He escaped the police station and later resurfaced at Ibadan.

At Ibadan, Sunday Igboho joined the NURTW, from where he came to the knowledge of Chief Adedibu and Governor Ladoja. He however broke ranks with Chief Adedibu when the latter plotted the removal of Ladoja as Oyo State governor. It was his friendship with Ladoja that introduced him into automobile dealership. He has remained a staunch member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) till date.

Who Killed Dr. Aborode?

In February 2021, Engineer Seyi Makinde, the Governor of Oyo State announced that it was untrue that the Fulani herdsmen murdered Dr. Aborode and that his assassination was politically motivated. Few days later, the Oyo State Police Command announced the arrest and detention of Pa. Olawuwo, a PDP stalwart from the Ibarapa area of the state over the murder of Dr. Aborode. Dr. Aborode’s Farm Manager, Mr. Bolanle Olanrewaju, was also arrested.

Although the matter is now in court, one can say without mincing words that Sunday Igboho misled the entire Yoruba race. He rallied the Yoruba against the Sarkin Fulani and, in the process, bought himself a hero status, a garland that his antecedent did not justify.

Was the emergence of Sunday Igboho on the scene at Igangan and the various lies that he peddled part of the grand plan associated with the murder of Dr. Fatai Aborode? Did he fabricate the misleading narratives to take our attention away from the real killers of Dr. Aborode? One can only hope that some of these questions would be answered in the course of the triall. Even if no one is sure when the court processes will be completed, certainly everyone is interested in one question: who killed Dr. Fatai Aborode?