Lead counsel for arrested Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, has described as inhuman, the treatment his client was being subjected to in the custody of the police in Benin Republic.
The counsel, Chief Yomi Alliyu ( SAN), said this while speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday night.
He said Igboho’s wife, Ropo, a German citizen, who was arrested together with the activist, was also kept in a separate cell by the police in the neighbouring country.
He said, “They chained him in the cell where they put him in Cotonou. There was a fracas at the airport yesterday when he was arrested. They hit him in the hand and that same hand was handcuffed, he is in pains and he was weeping like a child when I called, I heard him.
“The wife too was put in a separate cell but they didn’t chain the wife. [b]He was crying, the wife was crying too cease he was writhing in pains seriously. We only pray they don’t pay anybody to kill him. You don’t out somebody in cell and still chain the person.[/b]
“You know he sustained injury and they didn’t take him to hospital for treatment. We heard that he is appearing in court tomorrow but I don’t know whether that will carry it out.”
The PUNCH learnt that Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Benin Republic, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), has been pushing for the extradition of Igboho and his wife to Nigeria.