Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Igboho, has returned to Nigeria about three years after fleeing the country for the Republic of Benin.
A statement by Igboho’s spokesman, Olayomi Koiki, confirmed that the Yoruba Nation activist was in the country for his mother’s burial which is scheduled to take place in Igboho and Ibadan.
In a video posted online, Mr Adeyemo was seen waving to residents of Igboho town as he entered the town for his mother’s final funeral rites.
His mother died while he was incarcerated in the Benin Republic in 2023.
Igboho left Nigeria in 2021 following a bloody confrontation between his aides and DSS operatives who stormed his residence in the Soka area of Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
Sunday Igboho, who agitates for independence for the ethnic Yoruba people mostly in southwestern Nigeria, eloped to the Benin Republic after he was declared wanted by the Department of State Services (DSS).
The separatist leader was detained in Benin Republic in October 2021 while trying to fly to Germany.
The West African country had charged him with “associating with criminals”.
He, however, regained his freedom recently after two years in a Beninese prison.
Two years ago, his lawyer, Ibrahim Salami, confirmed that Igboho had been given a conditional release for medical treatment but not allowed to leave the country.
Igboho had earlier thanked Benin President Patrice Talon and a former Nigerian president as well as Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka for their support.
