— ‘Sunday Igboho’ Needs to Learn the Facts, Respects the Rule of Law
(This is an updated version of a story published earlier)
The fragile peace currently being enjoyed by the farmers and other sundry inhabitants of Ido Ajegunle, a small farming suburb of the Isalu community, Odo Ese Quarters, Esa Oke kingdom, was almost rocked once again, with the visit and near bellicose disposition of Mr. Sunday Adeyemo, also known as (a.k.a.) “Sunday Igboho”, recently.
The farmstead, historically and traditionally belonging to the Isalu community of Esa-Oke, has been under attack since the Osun State Government suddenly announced the appointment of an Oba, a certain Timileyin Ajayi, as the Olojudo, for the community. The community has been from time immemorial under the control of Esa Oke. The Owa Omiran of Esa Oke has always been the consenting authority over the appointment and installation of a “Baale” (not Oba) in the community.
The announcement sparked ugly violence as the Esa Oke people resisted the attempt by the Osun State Government to cede their land to their tenants, without their consent. Lives and properties were lost in the ensuing crisis.
Therefore the visit of Mr. Sunday Igboho, who led some people, including the afore-mentioned Mr. Timileyin Ajayi to the community, was a shock to Esa Oke people.
However, the Joint Action Committee (JAC), set up by the Esa Oke community – headed by leaders of the Esa-Oke Central Union (ECU) and the Esa-Oke Renewal Initiative (ERI ) – to handle the crises emanating from the Ido Ajegunle situation, immediately rose into action.
The committee issued a strongly-worded Press Release warning Sunday Igboho not to allow himself to be used to reopen a crisis already investigated by official government panels and pending before a competent court of jurisdiction.
The Committee has also alerted the State Government and all the security agencies to the vexatious threats issued by the said Sunday Igboho while speaking on video at the Farmstead. JAC urged both the Police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to take keen interest in Igboho’s threats and monitor his further movements around the area.
An elderly man from the Isalu Community, Odo Ese, Esa Oke was not convinced by all the shenanigans playing out. He told www.esaoketodayonline.com in Esa Oke that while he believed in the ability of both the State Government and the law courts to properly adjudicate on the festering matter, he queried tardiness of the State Government in releasing the report of the seven-man committee, led by Hon. Oluropo Oyewole, which the Government earlier set up.
The Administrative Panel of Inquiry was set up by the State Government in March 2025, when the crisis snowballed into violent conflagration.
Many people in Esa Oke were blaming Sunday Igboho for leading Timileyin Ajayi and his coterie of followers to the area.
They wondered how Sunday Igboho, a man whose claim to fame was defending the interest of Yoruba people against all foreigners, could now soil his reputation by injecting himself into a dispute inside Yorubaland, without knowing the facts, the history, the geography, the panels of enquiry, and the pending legal procedures; he heard a false narrative from only the one side of Timilehin Ajayi, but did not hear from Esa-Oke people.
To the credit of Osun State Governor Adeleke, he prudently listened to both sides, and then established a panel to look into the matter.
Esa-Oke people urged Igboho to cease and desist from such one-sided, imprudent and unbecoming action.
A farm worker also condemned the visit of Timileyin and Igboho to the Farmland. He said the fact that Esa Oke people were still mourning the passage of their monarch should be enough for both Igboho and Timileyin Ajayi to show some respect and honour the dead. He wondered if they felt they could take advantage of the current vacuum in the OwaOmiran stool to advance their false agenda.
www.esaoketodayonline.com can recall that Mr. Sunday Igboho was in exile when the crisis broke out in February, 2025. Therefore, according to a Chief of the Isalu community, he might not know the true story of the crisis, but the Chief insisted that he should have conducted background checks before making his recen irksome statements.
He insisted that the visit by both Timileyin and Igboho clearly is contemptuous, since the case is still pending at the State High Court, and the report of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the State Government has not been released.
The JAC in its press statement lambasted the self-styled freedom fighter for his role in causing further pain to the psyche of the Esa Oke people.
According to the statement signed by Otunba Yinusa Aremu Bamigboye, Chairman, Esa Oke Central Union (ECU) and Prince Wumi Adeniyi, Chairman, Esa Oke Renewal Initiatives (ERI), “We have noted the statements credited to Mr. Sunday Igboho, with grave concern”.
The statement continued, “false claims, if left unrebutted, has a dangerous tendency to calcify into public fact, and it is precisely for this reason that we are compelled to respond. We do so with both pain and indignation.
The Committee believed that “It is nothing short of wickedness that these provocateurs and their sponsors chose the very period of mourning of our departed monarch, a senior Oba, not yet committed to the earth, to descend upon Esa-Oke, with known instruments of violence and issue what amounts to a declaration of war against a peaceful, law-abiding community. This timing is not incidental. It is deliberate. It is cruel.
The committee wondered how “Mr Timileyin Ajayi would engage the services of the said Sunday Adeyemo, a non-State actor, a man from Oyo State, in whose own backyard school children and teachers were abducted like livestock, without so much as a word of intervention from him, and still bring this same individual to Esa-Oke, to intimidate and threaten our people, speaks volumes about the character and intentions of those behind this campaign”.
The statement further chided Ajayi saying “these are not the actions of men with legitimate grievances. They are the actions of land-grabbers, operating with impunity, emboldened by desperation, and shielded, it would appear, by powerful but unnamed interests”
Many people spoken to warn Sunday Igboho to stay clear from all matters concerning Esa Oke, as he was not invited nor wanted. According to a youth leader, “Igboho is a non-state actor. He failed in his Oke Ogun area. He has not helped the Oriire community in Ogbomosho; why coming to puncture the fragile peace in Oko Ido?”, he queried.