Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho
By Our Reporter
One of the Cotonou, Benin Republic-based lawyers of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, Ibrahim Salami, has said that a Beninese passport was not found on Igboho, he was not being tried for possessing a fake passport instead a Nigerian passport was found on the Yoruba rights activist as at the time of his arrest.
The law professor disclosed this in an interview with BBC Yoruba.
This is contrary to earlier reports that Igboho is being tried for possessing a Beninese passport despite not being a citizen of the country.
He however said that Igboho was tried for “immigration offences” but added that, that had been neutralised with the activist’s application for asylum
The lawyer said, “When he left Nigeria, he took the backdoor into Benin. It was at the airport that security operatives stopped him and said 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.”
Recall that following the bloody raid on his Sooka residence in Ibadan, Oyo State, the Department of State Services had earlier claimed local and international driving licences in his name. ATM cards, a German residence permit No. YO2N6K1NY bearing his name, and a passport were allegedly recovered..
