Lawyer to Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN), has asked the authorities of Benin Republic not to release his client to Nigeria because he won’t get justice from the government.
He made the assertion on Tuesday while speaking to journalists about Igboho’s arrest.
The Department of State Services had declared Igboho wanted after its operatives raided the Soka residence of the Yoruba Nation agitator.
During the raid, the DSS said it recovered ammunitions, charms and arrested 13 people while two others were allegedly killed.
A suit by 12 associates of Igboho, which was reported to have been fixed for hearing at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday did not come up as the courts observed the eid holiday.
Alliyu, who confirmed the arrest of Igboho, accused the federal government of victimising his client and urged Benin Republic not to extradite him.
“It is a shocking news that the Nigerian Government has gotten Chief Sunday Adeyemo, arrested by INTERPOL in the Republic of Benin. Notwithstanding, the political nature of his offence and what the DSS earlier said that they refrained from arresting him so as not to overheat the polity of Southwestern Nigeria.
“The Extradition Treaty of 1984 between Togo, Nigeria, Ghana and Republic of Benin excluded political fugitives. It also states that where the fugitive will not get justice because of discrimination and/or undue delay in prosecution the host country should not release the fugitive,” he said.
According to him, Article 20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights to which the four countries are signatories made agitation for self-determination a fundamental right to be protected by all countries.
He described Igboho as a political offender who cannot be deported and/or extradited for any reason.
“Secondly, that he cannot get Justice or even be killed is apparent in how those arrested in his house were detained for more than 21 days now without access to their lawyers. Even the wife among them could not change her undies for 21days! Which inhuman treatment can be more this?
“Again another wife of our client, Mrs Ropo Adeyemo, a German citizen, has been arrested together with her husband in Cotonou. What offence has she committed to warrant this?
“We urge the good government of the Republic of Benin and the international community, especially Germany, to rise up and curb the impunity of the Nigerian Government by refusing any application for extradition of our client who already has an application before ICC duly acknowledged.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also argued that it is important that INTERPOL and Benin Republic are aware of the invasion of Igboho’s house by DSS operatives.
“It is advisable for the INTERPOL and Benin Republic to be aware of the savagery acts committed in our client’s house in the wee hours of 1st July 2021; between 1.00 am and 3.00 am; shooting their way through and killing 2 people in the process and maliciously damaging his properties in the course of that illegal invasion.
“Though the invading DSS officers did not state any reason for their invasion to our client before or during invasion, they later paraded 13 people and ammunition which our client denied to be his as he is a peaceful campaigner for self-determination and it is on good record that the guns and ammunition displayed were the same displayed in 2013 in another instance,” the statement read.
The lawyer said one of the persons killed during the raid on the residence of Igboho was his business partner.
According to him, the deceased visited Igboho with two police escorts who were disarmed and their guns displayed to implicate Igboho.
“This could be seen on 2013 Facebook though DSS has dismissed this on their website. But what they cannot deny is that when they were leaving our clients house, they left with two corpses and people arrested and nothing more, except 2 guns belonging to the police escorts of Mr Adisa Saheed Olalekan.”
“One of the people they killed was one Mr Saheed Adisa Olalekan of Oladams Motors, Osogbo, who came to Sunday Igboho’s house to discuss auto business. He came with 2 police escorts. Though the policemen were not among the people paraded to the public, their guns were among those displayed.
