There are strong indications that Benin Republic will make
the outcome of asylum application by Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo,
popularly known as Sunday Igboho, known this week.
The PUNCH reports that the bail application for Igboho was
delayed by his lawyers because of his medical report and the expected outcome
of his asylum application among others.
Igboho’s lawyers were considering different options to get
him out of a detention facility in Cotonou without being extradited to Nigeria.
Igboho and his wife were arrested on Monday, July 19, 2021,
by the International Criminal Police Organisation at the Cadjèhoun Airport in
Cotonou, Republic of Benin on their way to Germany. Ropo was later released.
This was after DSS raided his house in Ibadan and declared
him wanted for stockpiling arms.
When he was re-arraigned last Monday, fresh charges were
levelled against the 48-year-old activist, who was also returned to a new
detention facility.
The Coordinating counsel for Igboho, Olasupo Ojo, said he
was yet to get any official report on his asylum.
Asked if Igboho had been granted asylum, he said, “I have
not got any official report in relation to that.”
“Yes, we are
expecting feedback this week,” he added when asked if Igboho’s asylum application
feedback may be out this week.
Also, the spokesperson for Ilana Omo Oduduwa, Maxwell
Adeleye, said the organisation is expecting a positive response.
“We have submitted an application and we are hoping to get a
positive response before the end of the week,” he said.
Ibrahim Salami, one of the Cotonou, Benin Republic-based
lawyers of Igboho, had explained that charges against Igboho would be
neutralised if the activist is granted asylum.
Salami said this while explaining that Igboho was not
arrested for possessing a Benin Republic passport despite not being a citizen.
The lawyer had said, “When he left Nigeria, he took the
backdoor into Benin. It was at the airport that security operatives stopped him
that he was on the watchlist. He didn’t go against any law in Benin Republic.
They didn’t find any Beninese passport on him. He had a Nigerian passport with
a German residency card. He needed no visa at that point.
“When we understudied the case, we realised that the
Nigerian government had not filed a case for extradition. They only claimed
that he is wanted in Nigeria for criminal offences. Our argument is that he was
arrested because of Nigeria’s request, and there is no proof to show that he is
a criminal. He spent barely 24 hours in the country and filed an asylum.”
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