…Benin Republic Will Reject Nigeria’s Extradition Request — Akintoye
Leader of the umbrella body of Yoruba self-determination groups, Ilana Oodua, Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye, has confirmed the arrest of the popular Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Igboho in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Earlier, The New Diplomat had reported that Igboho was arrested on Monday at an airport in Cotonou, days after the federal government had raised alert that the activist was planning to flee the country.
The operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) had placed the activist on a wanted list and launched a manhunt for him, following his escape during the invasion of his residence in Soka Area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
However, in a statement, Akintoye has confirmed the arrest of Igboho in Benin Republic. He added that he received the information in the late hours of Monday.
Akintoye, however expressed confidence that Igboho will not be extradited to Nigeria, saying that the “Benin Republic is a land that respects the rules of law.”
He also assured that the Ilana Oodua alongside other individuals are “working to provide assistance for Ighoho to prevent his extradition into Nigeria.”
This was contained in a statement signed by Akintoye and made available by his Communications Manager, Mr. Maxwell Adeleye.
Akintoye also urged all the Yoruba people both home and abroad to support Igboho, claiming that some powerful forces are allegedly trying to suppress and eliminate the activist.
The statement reads, “I received last night the troubling information that Chief Sunday Adeyemo fondly called Igboho had been arrested at the Cotonou Airport.
“I and other Yoruba Patriots who are immediately available are now working to provide the assistance necessary to ensure that nobody will be able to do to him anything unlawful or primitive and to prevent him from being extradited into Nigeria which is strongly possible.
“Fortunately, Benin Republic is reliably a land of law where the authorities responsibly obey the law. We have secured the services of a leading and highly respected lawyer whom we can confidently rely on.
“What the situation now calls for is that the Yoruba nation at home and in the diaspora must stand strong, resolved that neither Sunday Igboho nor any other Yoruba person will henceforth be subjected to inhuman or dehumanizing treatment of any kind.
“We Yoruba nation are, by the grace of God, a very strong nation. We must arise now to show that strength.
“For a start, we must all see to it now that Sunday Ighoho will get his freedom back so as to be able to move and operate as a free person. We all know he has committed no crime.
“We know that some people are trying to suppress or even eliminate him only because he stood up to defend his kinsmen, women and children who are being massively killed and raped in their ancestral homeland; who are having their assets and means of livelihood destroyed, and who are facing ethnic cleansing and even genocide without having the benefit of protection by the rulers of their country.
“We know, furthermore, that for the protection of his people who are being brutalized, he has joined hands with many of his brethren to take the legally appropriate step, namely to seek the intervention of the International Criminal Court.”
Meanwhile, some Yoruba leaders including monarchs and self determination groups are currently moving to stop the extradition of Igboho to Nigeria from Benin Republic.
It was gathered that the leaders have gone as far as securing the service of lawyers in Benin to stop plot to handover the Yoruba Agitator to Nigerian authorities.
“We met overnight and reached some resolutions which I may not be able to discuss. Most of us have not been able to communicate with Igboho since the Department of State Services raided his house but we heard the news of his arrest late on Monday. We have involved lawyers who are currently battling to stop his extradition.
“What the lawyers told us is that Igboho is a political criminal and there is an extradition treaty between Nigeria and Benin Republic which does not support the Federal Government’s action. While we expect the law to take its cause, most of us want Igboho’s right to be respected,” a monarch reportedly said.
Meanwhile, a source told The New Diplomat that some Yoruba leaders are worried that there have been attempts to “mix up the Yoruba Nation agitation with criminality,” insisting that “Yoruba emancipation is the struggle, Igboho is not the struggle.”
