Sunday Adeyemo, a Yoruba rights activist popularly known as Sunday Igboho, is seriously ill and may have contracted a kidney ailment under detention in Beninese prison, according to his lawyer.
Yomi Aliyyu, one of Igboho’s lawyers, disclosed this in an interview on Wednesday.
According to Aliyyu, his client has been rushed to the hospital for treatment.
“Igboho was not diagnosed with this sickness before he was arrested in Cotonou. It was so critical that they had to rush him to the hospital,” the lawyer told BBC Yoruba.
“I can’t tell if he has been returned to the prison from the hospital but what I know is, he’s battling ill health and it seems his kidney and lungs are already being affected.
“Even though I cannot tell which part of his body the sickness has really affected, I know it has to do with his internal organs.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for Ilana Oodua, Maxwell Adeleye, told the Punch: “Expect our reaction soon. But the government should be warned that nothing must happen to Igboho.”
The 48-year-old Igboho was arrested alongside his wife, Ropo, on 19 July by the International Criminal Police Organisation at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou on their way to Germany.
The arrest occurred three weeks after operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) raided Igboho’s house in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, in a bid to arrest him.
He, however, escaped, although two persons were killed and 12 persons were arrested, while arms and ammunition were reportedly retrieved from his residence by the secret agents.
His wife has, however, been released.
He was arraigned before the Cour d’appel de Cotonou by the Beninese authorities on 22 July reportedly for immigration-related offences, particularly being in possession of a Benin Republic passport even though he is not a citizen of the country.
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