BREAKING: Benin Republic To Determine Sunday Igboho’s Asylum Request — Lawyer

According to The PUNCH, there are strong indications that the Benin Republic would announce the verdict of Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho’s asylum plea this week.

According to our source, Igboho’s bail application was postponed by his lawyers due to his medical report and the expected outcome of his asylum application, among other things.

Igboho’s lawyers were reportedly investigating several alternatives to get him out of a jail facility in Cotonou without being deported to Nigeria, according to NEWS DIRECT.

Igboho and his wife were detained by the International Criminal Police Organization at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, on their route to Germany on Monday, July 19, 2021. Ropo was eventually released.

After the DSS raided his home in Ibadan and declared him wanted for stockpiling weaponry, he was arrested.

Fresh accusations were filed against the 48-year-old activist when he was re-arraigned last Monday, and he was also transferred to a new jail cell.

Olasupo Ojo, the Coordinating Counsel for Igboho, said he has yet to get an official report on his asylum.

Asked if Igboho had been granted asylum, he said, “I have not got any official report in relation to that.”

“Yes, we are expecting feedback this week,” he added when asked if Igboho’s asylum application feedback may be out this week.

Also, the spokesperson for Ilana Omo Oduduwa, Maxwell Adeleye, said the organisation is expecting a positive response.

“We have submitted an application and we are hoping to get a positive response before the end of the week,” he told The PUNCH on the telephone.

Ibrahim Salami, one of the Cotonou, Benin Republic-based lawyers of Igboho, had explained that charges against Igboho would be neutralised if the activist is granted asylum.

Salami said this while explaining that Igboho was not arrested for possessing a Benin Republic passport despite not being a citizen.

The lawyer had said, “When he left Nigeria, he took the backdoor into Benin. It was at the airport that security operatives stopped him that 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. He spent barely 24 hours in the country and filed an asylum.”