Yoruba political activist Sunday “Igboho” Adeyemo says Ondo State governor Rotimi Akeredolu and other Yoruba leaders are in support of his secession agenda.

Mr Adeyemo, while at a solidarity rally in Akure, Ondo state capital, Saturday disclosed that the governor was solidly behind the rally that seeks the creation of a Yoruba nation, ThisDay reported.

“The Governor (Mr Akeredolu) is in support of the rally that was held in Akure. The governor is aware of our rally. We are no more under the Fulani again. All we want is Yoruba Nation,” Mr Adeyemo was quoted to have said by the newspaper.

The Yoruba activist has continued to tour southwestern states, preaching his secessionist agenda.

Mr Adeyemo had previously held rallies in southwestern towns such as Osogbo, Ibadan and Abeokuta.

The activist who got the public’s ear after issuing Fulani herdsmen an ultimatum to vacate the southwestern region over rising cases of insecurity started pushing his secession agenda in March after he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of favouring his Fulani stock in key federal appointments.

Mr Adeyemo said all critical federal agencies, especially the one located in Yorubaland like the Tin Can Ports in Apapa and other maritime infrastructure, are being controlled by elements from Mr Buhari’s northern region.

Speaking further on Saturday, Mr Adeyemo outlined the need for traditional leaders to be given prominent roles in the constitution of the proposed Oduduwa Republic.

According to him, traditional rulers who are supposed to be the father of all had been relegated.

He said: “Traditional rulers are supposed to be the fathers of all, but they have been relegated. I believe all these anomalies will end when the Yoruba Nation comes to being.”

“Politicians have sold us to Fulanis. The Fulanis are now beyond their controls. It is time we free ourselves. There is no going back on the agitation. We do not want an election in 2023. I have a strong belief that we are going to succeed,” he added.

Mr Adeyemo further said that he and his team will not stop their agitation for Yoruba nation until it was realised.

But in a swift rebuttal, Governor Akeredolu in a statement issued on Sunday, said he was not in support of the agitation for Yoruba secession from Nigeria.

“It has come to the knowledge of the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, that some group of persons who held a rally under the cover of what they term ‘secessionist agitations’ in Akure, on Saturday, May 22, 2021, erroneously claimed to have had his support for the rally,” the statement by Mr Akeredolu read.

“Governor Akeredolu wishes to state clearly that while he acknowledges the right of individuals and groups to hold peaceful rallies, it must not be misconstrued to mean support for secessionist agenda and or balkanisation of the nation. Far from it.”

The Governor further explained that his approval of the rally was only to show that he is not opposed to any civil protest which is not in breach of the extant laws of the nation.