Despite having an intense six-hour court session on Thursday, the Cour De’appal De Cotonou in Benin Republic ordered that Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Igboho, be detained.
His wife, a German citizen, however, was released.
Recalled that Mr Igboho was arrested at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou on Monday night, and according to reports, he was already on the plane before being spotted and arrested.
The court sessions which started at 10 am and ended at about 8 pm on Thursday, was adjourned till Friday. The court, however, did not sit on Friday.
On why Igboho could not be released, a court official in the French-speaking nation told SaharaReporters, an online media, that it is because the activist is being tried in relation to the extradition request from Nigeria and not because he committed any offence in the West African country.
“That was why he was returned to the police custody and not remanded in the prison. Igboho was carrying only two passports – his German and Nigerian passports, and so, the Beninese government had no issues with him. He was already on the plane with his wife when he was identified and arrested.
“So, he was returned to the police custody so that the extradition hearing could continue on Friday (today) or possibly Monday. If he were a criminal suspect in Benin Republic, he would have been remanded in prison,” the official told the publication.
Operatives of the Department of State Services, on July 1, 2021, raided Igboho’s residence in the Soka area of Ibadan, arrested at least 12 of his associates and killed two others.
The DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, said seven AK-47 rifles, rounds of ammunition, and other exhibits were recovered from his residence.
Following his arrest, there were reports that Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Benin Republic, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), was pushing for the extradition of Igboho to the DSS headquarters in Abuja but Igboho’s lawyer, Yomi Aliyyu (SAN), insisted that his client could not be extradited because the 1984 Extradition Treaty between Nigeria, Benin and two others excluded political refugees like Igboho.
On Thursday, many Yoruba-speaking supporters of the Igboho in the French-speaking country were seen at the court premises in solidarity with the 49-year-old activist.
Meanwhile, The Street Journal had earlier reported that a Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the DSS to produce 12 of Igboho’s supporters, who have been in their custody, in court.