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By 247ureports.com
Yoruba rights activist Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has directed members of his Iru Ẹkun Security Network to kill armed bandits and kidnappers encountered during operations in the forests and highways of Nigeria’s Southwest, in remarks made while inaugurating the group’s Ondo State chapter in Akure.
The Directive
Addressing newly inducted members, Igboho said: “Any bandit you see with a gun in the forest, kill him. If you see any Yoruba or Igbo working with them, kill them too. If you see any Hausa involved in kidnapping, eliminate him immediately.” He explained his reasoning for bypassing the formal justice system, arguing that handing suspected bandits over to police risks seeing them return to crime after serving a jail term. He also directed members to alert police and other security agencies when they encounter armed bandits blocking major roads, including routes linking Ondo with Osun and Abuja.
Reaction
The remarks have generated sharply divided reactions online. Some commentators voiced support for the tough stance against armed criminal gangs, while others raised concerns about potential ethnic profiling and the risks of an unregulated vigilante militia operating outside formal legal oversight. One social media user questioned whether the network was being used to target bandits or political opponents, citing Igboho’s past comments about the ruling APC; another described the move as building “another militia,” warning that its real motives would become clear with time.
Context: A Rapidly Expanding Network
The directive is part of a broader, accelerating rollout of Iru Ekun across the Southwest. More than 15,000 volunteers reportedly joined the network’s Ogun State chapter alone when it launched in Abeokuta in August. Igboho has said the outfit exists to complement, not replace, formal security agencies, and has credited a recent reduction in kidnapping and banditry cases across Yoruba-speaking states to tactical support from the police, Nigerian Army and Department of State Services (DSS). Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and several traditional rulers have publicly rallied behind the network’s operations in the state.
In separate remarks, Igboho has also cautioned Iru Ekun volunteers against confronting criminals without first notifying relevant security agencies, and has disclosed that the network lost a member in Iwere-Ile earlier this year, killed by armed bandits during a gun battle — underscoring the real risks his volunteers face in the field.
Why This Matters
The directive comes against a backdrop of sustained bandit and kidnapping violence in the region, including an attack that killed more than 20 farmers across four communities in Ondo’s Akure North LGA earlier this year, and the killing of an abducted APC local chairman in Ifon after a partial ransom payment. Those incidents illustrate the security vacuum Iru Ekun says it is stepping into — but Igboho’s explicit “kill” order, and its framing around specific ethnic groups, raises separate questions about extrajudicial vigilante action and the legal accountability of groups like Iru Ekun operating alongside, but outside, formal state security structures.
What’s Unaddressed
As of this report, 247ureports.com has not located any formal response from the Nigeria Police Force, the DSS, or the Nigerian Army specifically addressing Igboho’s shoot-on-sight order, despite his claims of their tactical backing for the network’s broader operations.
