How Beninese Authorities Imprisoned Sunday Igboho and Made Him Cry Like a Baby – Lawyer Reveals

Chief Yomi Alliyu SAN, the counsel representing the defendant, stated on Tuesday that his client was chained inside the cell, tortured on the hand, and forced to cry like a baby. The lawyer confirmed that Igboho sobbed during their telephone conversation on Tuesday.

The lead counsel for arrested Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho has described his client’s treatment in police custody in Benin Republic as inhuman.

Chief Yomi Alliyu SAN, the counsel representing the defendant, stated on Tuesday that his client was chained inside the cell, tortured on the hand, and forced to cry like a baby. The lawyer confirmed that Igboho sobbed during their telephone conversation on Tuesday.

According to him, Igboho’s wife, Ropo, a German national who was arrested alongside the activist, was also held in a separate cell by police in the neighboring country.

“They chained him in the cell where they put him in Cotonou,” the lawyer told Punch. Yesterday, when he was arrested, there was a fracas at the airport. They struck him in the hand and then handcuffed him; he is in pain and was sobbing like a child when I called and he heard me.

“The wife was also placed in a separate cell, but she was not chained. He was crying, his wife was crying as well, and he was writhing in agony. We can only hope they do not hire someone to assassinate him. You cannot put someone in a cell and then chain them.

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“As you are aware, he sustained an injury and was not rushed to the hospital for treatment. We heard that he will appear in court tomorrow, but I’m not sure that will be sufficient.”

Recall that Igboho and his wife were arrested on Monday around 8 p.m. at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou, Benin Republic. They were about to board a flight to Germany when they were apprehended by Interpol.

The senior advocate, who described his client’s arrest as shocking, urged the German, Benin, and international communities to “rise up and put an end to the Nigerian government’s impunity by refusing any application for extradition of our Client who already has an application before the International Criminal Court that has been duly acknowledged.”

On July 1, 2021, the Nigerian secret police raided Igboho’s Ibadan residence in the Soka neighborhood, arresting approximately 12 of his aides and killing two of them in a gun duel.

The Nigerian Federal Government had alerted the Nigerian Immigration Service and the Nigerian Customs Service to prevent Igboho from fleeing the country.