By Ojo Peter, Ibadan
An Oyo High Court sitting in Ibadan has extended an interim order restraining the Department of State Services, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), from arresting, killing, or harassing Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho.
The court presided over by Justice Ladiran Akintola also extended the order stopping the DSS and AGF from freezing the accounts of the embattled activist facing trial in Cotonou, Benin Republic.
Lead counsel for Igboho, Yomi Aliyu (SAN), confirmed the development on Monday after the ruling.
He said, “The judge said the interim order of injunction should continue until September 7 when we will go back to court.”
It had earlier reported that Justice Akintola had on August 4, 2021, ordered the secret Police and the AGF not to arrest Igboho or freeze his bank accounts.
Counsel for the AGF, E. Simeon, had appealed the court to vacate its earlier restraining judgment but Aliyu said he had filed for an extension of the order on August 26, 2021 and therefore, the new application should not be granted.
Simeon consequently sought another adjournment to enable him reply to the application as the time frame of seven days had not elapsed.
On his part, counsel to the DSS, T. Nurudeen, said he had not been served with the new processes, urging the court to adjourn the case.
Justice Akintola subsequently adjourned the case till September 7, 2021, for hearing.
Igboho had through his counsel approached the court and filed an originating summon alongside an application praying the court to stop the DSS and the AGF from arresting him.
He is also seeking N5bn as damages for the destruction of his house and cars.
Igboho, wanted by the DSS, has been in detention in Cotonou, Benin Republic, since July 19, 2021, when he was arrested at the Beninise airport as he tried to board a Germany-bound flight.
The DSS had raided his Ibadan residence on July 1, 2021, killing two of his associates while arresting 12 others.
Orient Daily can recall that Igboho and the leader of the umbrella body of the Yoruba self-determination group known as; Ilana Omo Oodua, Banji Akintoye, have been seen together at press conferences and rallies championing the cause to secede from the Nigerian State and establish a Yoruba Nation despite the Federal Government’s insistence of a united and indissoluble Nigeria.
Akintoye, 86, said he relocated to Benin Republic to ensure the release of 48-year-old Igboho.