Lead counsel to Sunday Igboho, Yomi Alliyu (SAN), has alleged that his client is being tortured having been chained in a Cotonou police cell in Benin Republic.
The counsel, speaking to ChannelsTV Tuesday night, disclosed that Igboho would appear before a court in Benin by Wednesday (today), for an extradition order.
Alliyu also debunked reports that Igboho had been released saying rather that, “Igboho is being treated like an animal in the cell based on an order from the above.
“I got a call from a reliable source from the authorities in the Republic of Benin that Sunday Igboho has been put in a very dehumanizing condition in a police cell in Cotonou.
“The police source told me that they are under instruction by an order from above that Igboho should be chained like an animal waiting to be slaughtered. He told me that Igboho was tightly chained to the floor and he is in serious pain.
“While I was talking to the police officer on the telephone, I could hear our client crying and asking that the chains should be removed as he is in pain. But the officer told him that they cannot remove the chains as they are acting on instruction,” he said.
The lawyer reiterated that Igboho might not be extradited as is being sought for by the Nigerian authorities because Igboho is a political offender.
“I know that our client, Chief Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho Oosa), would be taken to a court in Cotonou, the capital of the Republic of Benin, tomorrow, Wednesday.
“The Nigerian authorities and security operatives that arrested him would be approaching the court for an extradition order to bring Sunday Igboho back to Nigeria.
“But it is not likely that the extradition order being sought for would sail through. This is because of the status of our client as a political offender who enjoys immunity against extradition.
“Like I said in a press release earlier today, even his arrest by security operatives was against the political nature of his offense.
“There is an existing extradition treaty between four West African countries, including Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, and Republic, which grants Igboho immunity from being extradited from the Republic of Benin.
“The Extradition Treaty of 1984 between Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, and Republic of Benin excluded political fugitives. It also states that where the fugitive will not get justice because of discrimination and/or undue delay in prosecution, the host country should not release the fugitive.
“Article 20 of African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights to which the four countries are signatories made agitation for self-determination a fundamental right to be protected by all countries,” he said.
