Sunday Igboho’s 12 Aides Still In Detention As Court Demands 24 Sureties

The bail perfection of 12 detained aides of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, has suffered a setback as the Federal High Court in Abuja demanded 24 sureties.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the development was in contrast to four sureties earlier demanded by the court.

A member of Igboho’s legal team, Pelumi Olajengbesi, expressed dissatisfaction at the development. According to the lawyer, the legal team is only aware that the presiding judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, granted the detainees bail with four sureties.

Justice Egwuatu, last Wednesday, admitted the 12 applicants to bail after spending five weeks in the custody of the Department of State Services, following their arrest on July 1, 2021 at Igboho’s Ibadan residence raided by the DSS operatives around 1am.

The secret police had also said it killed two other associates of the activist in a gun duel and subsequently declared Igboho wanted for allegedly stockpiling arms to destabilise Nigeria under the pretext of Yoruba Nation. But the activist, who is now in a Beninese detention facility, had denied the allegation.

According to Olajengbesi, Justice Egwuatu granted bail to eight of the detained aides in the sum of N5m, two sureties resident in Abuja, with evidence of two years’ tax payment.

The lawyer said the bail terms for the remaining four were N10m in the like sum, two sureties resident in Abuja with one of them being a civil servant in a Federal Government ministry or any of its agencies with grade level not less than 12.

In addition, the four applicants will report to the DSS office every first Monday of the month effective from September.

The DSS lawyer, Idowu Awo, had told the court that he was not opposing the bail of eight of the applicants as their investigations revealed that the levels of their involvement in the offence of arms stockpiling and other criminal activities were minimal.

But the DSS lawyer argued that four others, Babatunde, Shittu, Oyetunji and Sunday, should not be granted bail in the interest of justice and national security.

Olajengbesi, however, prayed the court to discountenance the argument of the DSS as it was unknown to the Nigerian law. Justice Egwuatu disregarded Awo’s argument and granted the 12 detainees bail.

But speaking to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, Olajengbesi expressed surprise at the “clarification” of the court.

The lawyer said he was at the bail office of the court on Friday to start the vetting and assessment of the sureties when he was told that two sureties resident in Abuja were needed for each of the detainees.

He said, “Having got the four sureties and in the process of perfecting the bail conditions, the court clarified that the two sureties there were for each of the detainees, so the court is asking for 24 sureties.”

Leave A Comment