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Ojudu Lying That I Wanted To Disrupt Ekiti Poll, He Should Provide Evidence —Igboho

January 26, 2021

He challenged Ojudu to bring his evidence forward if truly such an incident happened between him and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Ojudu had claimed.

The Yoruba activist and Oduduwa Republic agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, on Tuesday described as falsehood a statement credited to Senator Babafemi Ojudu that he was a political thug. 

He challenged Ojudu to bring his evidence forward if truly such an incident happened between him and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as Ojudu had claimed.

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Igboho also said Pa Lamidi Adedibu never trained him as Ojudu claimed in his write-up. 

He described Senator Rashidi Ladoja as his leader and boss, adding that he never betrayed him.

Ojudu had on Monday said with his support, Tinubu persuaded Igboho not to interfere with the 2009 rerun election in Ekiti State, describing him as a political thug who took money from politicians to cause violence. [story_link align="left"]89417[/story_link]

Fielding questions from journalists in Ibadan over an arson attack on his house, Igboho described as falsehood a piece written by Ojudu, where he mentioned that the late Lamidi Adedibu contacted him as a thug to disrupt the 2009 election in Ekiti State. 

Igboho denied that he was ever in Ekiti State to disrupt an election.

Igboho said, "Ojodu mentioned Ahmed Tinubu in the piece, you can go and ask him about the election. I have only worked for two people; the late Lamidi Adesina and Rashidi Ladoja. I have never worked for Adedibu.

"Adedibu died in 2008 and Ojudu said the same Adedibu asked me to go to Ekiti in 2009. You can see he is a liar. Politicians are trying to penetrate the Yoruba struggle. You can kill the messenger but you cannot kill the message. 

"I don't know any Ojudu and if he is sure that I met him in a hotel, let him swear by the life of his children."

In his piece, Ojudu aid Tinubu was able to dissuade Igboho from disrupting the poll in Ekiti, even though Igboho had allegedly collected money from a senator to wreak havoc in the state. 

He said, "Tinubu went on and on, lecturing him on the beauty of democracy and unencumbered electoral process. By the time Tinubu finished with him, he became sober and contrite. 'Baba', he said, 'I have heard you and I am pleased with what you have said. Whatever you want me to do, I will do even though I have collected money from the other side'. 

"This was the extent Tinubu went to secure Ekiti for his party, ACN. Most of this, the candidate, Fayemi himself, was not even aware of.

"Tinubu then beckoned me to follow him to the bedroom of the suit he occupied in the hotel. 'Femi, this guy appears sincere. It does appear we have dissuaded him'. 

“'Thank you, Baba,' Igboho said with a smile across his face as soon as he received a golden handshake for agreeing not to destroy in Ekiti as they had planned. 

"He then said that he would be in Ekiti on the eve of the election but at 2.00 am, I should put a call through to him. He would put his phone on speaker and I should tell him I am a police AIG and that the police had discovered his presence in Ekiti and would be raiding in 30 minutes time. With that call, he would tell his minders he could no longer stay. He would pack his boys and their lethal weapons and leave town. 

"Tinubu ordered food and drink for him. He would touch neither. He however overtime became comfortable in our midst and regaled us with several anecdotes from his career as a political enforcer. One particular anecdote stayed locked up in my memory till today because it was so funny. 

"According to Igboho, he went through the tutelage of Chief Adedibu, the strong man of Ibadan politics. He said he was one of his most reliable and trusted thugs. At a point in their relationship, Adedibu, he said, began to suspect he was getting too powerful and independent. Adedibu, he narrated, then invited him to a meeting and told him he would like him to run for the chairmanship of a local government. 

"He said he knew this was an attempt by Adedibu to bench him and he therefore told Adedibu that he was not educated, not able to speak English and could therefore not be chairman of a local government. 

"Adedibu, he said, looked at him and barked an order STAND UP! He stood up. “SIT DOWN!” He sat down. Adedibu then said 'and you claim not to be educated. Whatever is left, we shall add it unto you'. 

"A week before the election, we had reserved and paid for all the rooms in all the hotels in Ekiti. The money ran into several millions. Tinubu, as usual, paid for this. The strategy was to ensure no thug or any undesirable element had a place to stay in the state. Security men and INEC officials had to appeal to me, sometimes through Tinubu, to release some rooms to them to stay. With this, we knew who was staying where. And we closely monitored them and their activities.

"Thus, when Igboho and his band of 50 thugs arrived in Ado Ekiti that Friday, we were able to monitor them till they were taken to be accommodated overnight in Government House due to lack of hotel accommodation in the state. 

"This was the situation when at 2:00 am I did exactly what Igboho instructed me to do and he and his men fled town. Two hours after leaving, I got a call from him. They did a head count and found out two of their men were missing. Interestingly, they found out the two had gone to town in search of women. Igboho pleaded with me to help retrieve them and get them out of town the following morning."

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