The embattled Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, widely known as Sunday Igboho, has denied claims by the Nigerian Government that he was trafficking arms and inciting violence in Nigeria.
His lead counsel, Ibrahim Salami disclosed this to journalists on Tuesday after the court proceedings in Benin Republic.
He added that his client told the judge that the Nigerian Government rather put him on a watchlist for resisting killer herdsmen.
“Igboho said he never had any criminal record in Nigeria. He told the judge that the Nigerian government was after him because he was defending the Yoruba race against killer Fulani herdsmen.
“He said that he ran away from Nigeria because the government was after his life,” the lawyer explained.
Igboho is now being tried by the Benin court on fresh charges bordering on illegal migration, dubious connivance with immigration officers, and an attempt to cause civil unrest.
However, the court has granted him access to medical care and ordered that he be transferred to another detention facility.
Igboho and his wife had been arrested in Cotonou on July 19, while they tried to catch a flight to Germany. The court, on Thursday, ordered his wife’s release and returned him to police custody.