Yoruba Nation leader, Sunday Adeyemo widely known as Sunday Igboho, has narrated how President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic saved him from the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Nigerian Government seeking to eliminate him.
OSUN DEFENDER recalls that Igboho in July 2021 fled the country after authorities raided his home in Ibadan, Oyo State, as they cracked down on the agitations.
He was eventually arrested in Benin Republic by the French-speaking country’s authorities while trying to flee to Germany.
On Friday, Igboho met with members of his legal team in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
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He had been given a conditional release from prison in Benin Republic eight months after he was detained there.
According to him, “There is no security; there is nothing in Nigeria. And when you want to speak against all these, they would try to kill you. What was my offence? Do I deserve to be killed?
“When I was arrested, many people did not understand. Truly, Nigeria used all her power. Nigeria requested for me to be handed over to them by the Beninese Government. So President Talon said he wanted to investigate me. So he said if it is about politics and human rights, it is against the law for them to hand me over to the Nigerian government. That is the why all Yoruba people should thank President Talon on my behalf.”
It was reported that Igboho alongside leader of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, Prof Banji Akintoye and deputy leader of Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, Prof Wale Adeniran, had a meeting with the lawyers.
The meeting, according to the report, may not be unconnected to how Igboho could regain his unconditional freedom.
Igboho had been detained in a prison facility in the Republic of Benin, after he was arrested with Ropo, his wife, at Cardinal Bernardin International Airport, Cotonou, while on his way to Germany in July 2021.
The 49-year-old agitator fled Nigeria for Benin Republic after the Nigerian Government declared him wanted.
But in March, the Ilana Omo Oodua, a self-determination group, confirmed Igboho’s release in a statement issued by its Communications Secretary, Maxwell Adeleye.
