“DSS Mistook a Cat for Me” — Sunday Igboho Recounts Dramatic Escape During 2021 Raid

Prominent Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has shared fresh details about how he escaped arrest during the Department of State Services (DSS) raid on his Ibadan residence in July 2021.

Speaking on Monday while receiving a delegation of Muslim clerics at his Soka residence in Ibadan, Igboho dismissed long-standing rumours that he transformed into a cat to evade arrest. Instead, he claimed DSS operatives mistakenly killed a cat after believing it was him.

According to the activist, heavily armed security operatives stormed his residence around 1:30 a.m., firing shots after hearing his voice before allegedly using explosives to force their way into the house.

“I was naked when I heard them, but I quickly put on a pair of jeans and a shirt,” Igboho recalled. “One part of me wanted to surrender, but another warned that if I did, I would be killed.”

He said the operatives fired repeatedly without actually seeing him and forced his personal assistant, identified as Dudu, to call on him to open the door while holding him at gunpoint.

“They thought I had turned into a cat. They killed the cat believing it was me. They even brought what I would describe as a fake herbalist who was chanting incantations and performing rituals. I was inside the house watching everything, yet they couldn’t find me,” he claimed.

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Igboho further alleged that one of his partially blind relatives was fatally shot after officers mistook him for an attacker. He also claimed the bodies of those killed during the operation were taken away by the security operatives.

The activist attributed his survival to divine intervention, saying prayers previously offered by Muslim clerics at his residence protected him from what they had warned was an impending danger.

The controversial DSS raid on July 1, 2021, came after months of heightened tension between Igboho and the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The activist had attracted nationwide attention after issuing an ultimatum to some Fulani residents in parts of Oyo State over allegations of kidnapping and violent crimes and intensified his campaign for an independent Yoruba Nation.

Following the operation, the DSS announced that it had recovered firearms and ammunition from the residence, arrested 13 of Igboho’s associates, and confirmed that two of his aides were killed during what it described as an exchange of gunfire.

Punch reports that Igboho later fled Nigeria and was arrested in Cotonou, Benin Republic, while attempting to travel to Germany. After months of legal proceedings, he was released by Beninese authorities and has remained in self-imposed exile in the Benin Republic, where he continues to advocate for the Yoruba Nation movement.

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