The Yoruba freedom fighter, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho has narrated how he was arrested in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin after his escape from the Nigerian secret police, the Department of State Security (DSS) in Oyo state, Nigeria.
Chief spoke on Sunday in an interview he granted to Punch Newspaper, during which he also commented on the circumstances of his mysterious escape from the DSS who stormed his home with ferocious force and enormous gun power in the wee hours of Thursday July 1st 2021.
He also announced he will be returning to Nigeria soon, from his current base in Benin Republic, where he has been since his release from detention by the country`s security operatives.
Speaking in the interview with Punch newspapers on Sunday, the Oduduwa Republic agitator also said he has fate in the judiciary following his successful legal battle against the attempt by the Nigerian government to extradite him to Nigeria.
“I am going back to Nigeria soon…I believe in the judiciary.” He said in the interview, while also narrating his experience and that of his wife at the (Cadjèhoun) Airport, Benin the fateful day he was arrested in the country.
Clariform reminds our readers that Chief Sunday Adeyemo is a fugitive in Nigeria, having escaped an alleged attempt by the Nigerian secret police, the Department of State Security (DSS) to kill him in his house locate in the Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Sometime last year the DSS raided Igboho`s house in what the government described as operation to arrest the activist, but failed to apprehend him. Igboho escaped the DSS in very controversial circumstances is not yet clear to most watchers of the activities of the Yoruba activist.
Igboho`s recent declaration of fate in the judiciary could be related to his successful challenge of this “unlawful” attack on him right in his home during which multiple properties running into millions of naira were allegedly damaged by the DSS.
Clariform reminds our readers that Chief Igboho subsequently obtained a relief in the sum of N20 Million in damages for the attack from the High Court of Oyo State. However, our recent check shows that this award has not been paid by the DSS or the Nigerian government.
After his escape, he reappeared in Cotonou in the Republic of Benin on his way fleeing to Germany with his wife, but was encountered and arrested by the country`s security operatives. Chief Igboho was arrested on the 19th of July 19 2021 alongside his wife, who he (Igboho) alleges was used as a bate to get him, which he said worked.
NOTABLE QUOTES
Chief who claimed that the Nigeria security operatives actually came to his house to kill him added that his survival of the midnight attack can only be described as a miracle, saying “God doesn’t leave his own.”
He was however reluctant to disclose the details of how he mysteriously escaped the DSS operatives with his life intact and unhurt in anyway. In a spontaneous response to a question by the Punch interviewer who wanted an explanation, Chief Igboho said, “It is not yet time to speak. I will speak when it is time to speak.”
On how his wife was used as bate to get him, he said, “My wife (Ropo) was detained at the (Cadjèhoun) Airport for about two hours. They were ready to hold onto her if I didn’t show up. Then I showed up and the security agents handcuffed my hands and legs.
“If I knew that could happen, I wouldn’t allow her to follow me to the airport. She had already obtained my travelling document from the German government and I would have asked her to go separately but God knew how everything went that way.”
