BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
Against speculations in some quarters that the only choice left for the embattled Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Sunday Igboho, after facing trial and penalties in the Republic of Benin is to return to Nigeria where he had already being declared wanted by the Department of State Service, some lawyers have said that Igboho has the right to decide where to be repatriated on account of his dual citizenship.
Sunday Igboho, a native of Igboho in Ibarapa area of Oyo State, whose loyalists claimed was being persecuted by the Federal Government, is said to have Germany citizenship which qualifies him to relocate from Nigeria.
In an interview with The Point, a leading labour activist and human rights lawyer, Femi Aborisade, noted that the ongoing proceeding against Igboho was limited to extradition. He said, “The orders the court can make are either to grant the request of Nigeria or to reject it.
“If the request is granted, Nigeria would arrange to move him to Nigeria to stand trial for any alleged offence(s). If the request is rejected, he becomes free to go to wherever he chooses, either Germany or any other country he chooses to seek asylum.”
Another lawyer, Durotimi Owoeye, said, “Ordinarily, Benin is a West African country. He (Sunday Igboho) just needs a passport to go into any of the ECOWAS countries; I don’t think he needs a visa. If he can prove that he has dual citizenship; that he is both a Nigerian as well as a German citizen, then he has the right to decide where he should be taken to after.
