Sunday Igboho Didn't Surrender Himself - THE PUNCH Replies Igboho's Lawyer

Facts have emerged on how Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, initially escaped arrest at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou, Benin Republic before his eventual arrest around 8pm on Monday. A top security source told The PUNCH that Igboho and his wife, Ropo, at first, escaped arrest but a travel agent was used to lure them back to the airport.

The source said, “He (Igboho) was arrested in Cotonou on Monday night while he tried to travel. He was already at the airport with a passport. The immigration officers suspected the passport and so they stopped him. In the process, they discovered he was the one. He was able to escape in the course of discussion and we were grateful to God for that.

“But the travel agent called back saying the matter had been resolved. But on going back, he was arrested. He was trying to travel to Germany when he was apprehended.”

Also, another security source present in Cotonou told The PUNCH that Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Benin Republic, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai (retd.), was instrumental in the arrest of Igboho and his wife.

The source confided in The PUNCH that the former Chief of Army Staff wrote the government of the small West African country and insisted on the arrest and extradition of Igboho. Buratai, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff between July 2015 and January 2021, was deployed as Nigeria’s envoy in the Benin Republic in June 2021.