The Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, has arrived at the Cour De’appal De Cotonou, Benin Republic ahead of his arraignment.
REPORTERS AT LARGE gathered that Sunday Igboho, who was arrested around 8 pm on Monday, July 19, by the International Criminal Police Organisation at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou, may be tried for immigration-related offences.
The activist and his wife, Ropo, were arrested at the airport when they wanted to catch a flight to Germany.
“He (Igboho) was arrested in Cotonou on Monday night while he tried to travel. He was already at the airport with a passport. The immigration officers suspected his passport and so they stopped him. In the process, they discovered he was the one,” a source familiar with the matter had reportedly said.
Many Yoruba-speaking supporters of the activist were seen on the court premises on Thursday afternoon.
The Nigerian secret police had raided Igboho’s Ibadan residence in the Soka area on July 1, 2021. They arrested about 12 of his aides and killed two of them in a gun duel. Igboho was accused of stockpiling arms to destabilise Nigeria but he has denied the allegation.
The activist then went underground after he was declared wanted. He was, however, apprehended on Monday night in Cotonou. It was learnt that the Nigerian government had written the Interpol in the Francophone West African nation to hunt Igboho.
REPORTERS AT LARGE gathered that the Nigerian government planned to extradite the activist on Wednesday (yesterday) but the Benin Republic insisted that it would not be part of any process that was against due process.
Meanwhile, hundreds of youths stormed major streets in Ibadan, on Wednesday and staged peaceful protests against Igboho’s arrest in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
The protesting youths took off from the frontage of Sunday Ighobo’s house in Soka, through to Felele, to Challenge area, and to the Music House, housing the Fresh FM on Lagos bypass of Challenge, before they returned to their take-off point.
