Yomi Alliyu, counsel to Sunday Adeyemo, a youth leader better known as Sunday Igboho, says his client wept like a child when they spoke over the phone.
Alliyu, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the Punch that he spoke with Igboho on Tuesday night.
The youth leader was arrested on Monday in the Benin Republic on his way to Germany.
He was declared wanted by the Department of State Services (DSS) after his home was raided ahead of a “Yoruba nation” rally.
According to the secret police, guns and charms were recovered from his home during the raid that left two of his supporters dead.
The lawyer said the authorities in Cotonou subjected Igboho to inhumane treatment, adding that he is in “serious” pain.
“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 pain and he was weeping like a child when I called, I heard him,” he said.
“The wife too was put in a separate cell but they didn’t chain the wife. He was crying, the wife was crying too. He was writhing in pains seriously. We only pray they don’t pay anybody to kill him. You don’t put somebody in a cell and still chain the person.
You know he sustained an injury and they didn’t take him to the hospital for treatment. We heard that he is appearing in court tomorrow but I don’t know whether that will carry it out.”
The SAN said the extradition treaty of 1984 between Togo, Nigeria, Ghana, and the Benin Republic excludes political fugitives.
“Now, 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,” the lawyer said.
“This made chief Sunday Adeyemo a political offender who cannot be deported and/or extradited by the good people of the Republic of Benin for any reason.”
