FG delegation in court, wants agitator in custody until extradition
Desperately wanted by the Department of State Services in Nigeria, with
an international arrest warrant hanging around his neck, and facing
immigration-related offences in Cotonou, the embattled Yoruba Nation
agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, is seeking asylum in the Republic of Benin, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
It was gathered that the 48-year-old activist resorted to the option
after he was arrested on Monday, July 19, 2021, by the International
Criminal Police Organisation at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou,
Republic of Benin.
Igboho was arrested with his Germany-based wife, Ropo, at the airport
while they reportedly tried to catch a flight to Germany around 8 pm on
Monday.
Although the Cour De’appal De Cotonou ruled on Thursday that Ropo
should be released unconditionally as there were no charges against her,
Igboho is spending his first weekend in a police cell in Cotonou.
He is being tried for migration-related issues after he was allegedly
caught with a fake Beninese passport at the point of his departure to
Germany through an Air France flight.
“He (Igboho) was already at the airport with a passport. The
immigration officers suspected his passport to be fake and so they
stopped him. A passport was allegedly forged for Igboho in the Benin
Republic for the purpose of the Germany trip. At the airport, they
discovered he was the one,” a source familiar with the matter told
Saturday PUNCH.
The source, who craved anonymity, however, said although an
application had been filed for Igboho as a political refugee in Germany,
processes had also been completed to file another application for
asylum for him in Benin Republic.
“Igboho has already applied for asylum in Germany and he hopes to
file a similar application in Benin Republic in the coming days,” the
source said.
The source also said that there was the possibility that the Beninese
Government would drop the migration-related offences brought against
Igboho over alleged forgery of passport.
The leader of Igboho’s legal team, Yomi Alliyu (SAN), had also in a
statement noted that his client could not be extradited because the 1984
Extradition Treaty between Nigeria, Benin and two other countries
excluded political refugees like Igboho.
Meanwhile, upon their arrest, Igboho and his wife were detained in
police custody in Cotonou but the Cour De’appal De Cotonou ruled on
Thursday that Ropo should be released unconditionally as there were no
charges against her.
The court session lasted for about six hours with intermittent breaks.
The court, however, ruled that Igboho be remanded in police custody
till the next date of adjournment which is likely to be next week.
Igboho spends weekend in Beninese cell, court resumes sitting next week
Although the Cour De’appal De Cotonou, adjourned the hearing of the case
against Igboho, till Friday (yesterday), the hearing didn’t hold. The
implication of this is that Igboho would spend the weekend in the
Beninese cell.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the hearing would hold next week while
the umbrella body of Yoruba Self-Determination Groups, Ilana Omo Oodua,
said it would hold on Monday. The group, led by ex-Senator Banji
Akintoye, was in court to monitor Thursday’s hearing.
The group disclosed this in a statement signed by its Communications
Manager, Maxwell Adeleye, and titled, ‘Update on Chief Sunday Adeyemo
Igboho’s Case in the Republic of Benin.
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