Federal government considers filing fresh charges against Igboho and appealing his recent court victory

FEDERAL government prosecutors may file fresh charges against charges Yoruba Nation agitator Sunday Adeyemo following a recent unfavourable judgement delivered by the Oyo State High Court which awarded N20bn ($485m) worth of damages in his favour. 

On July 1, Mr Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, fled after his Ibadan home was raided by security forces who killed two of his aides and arrested a further 13. Mr Igboho subsequently turned up in Benin Republic but was arrested at Cotonou airport while he was trying to board a plane to Germany.

Despite his incarceration as the Nigerian government seeks to get him extradited, Mr Igboho won a court judgement in which security officials were found to be in breach of his fundamental human rights when they raided his home. Fearful that the Beninoise authorities may be forced to release Mr Igboho if the courts there rule in his favour, the Nigerian government is now considering filing fresh charges against him.

Abubakar Malami, Nigeria's justice minister and attorney-general, said that for starters, the federal government has right to appeal the judgment of the Oyo State high court. Justice Ladiran Akintola, had awarded the money as exemplary and aggravated damages against Mr Malami's office and the State Security Service over the invasion of Mr Adeyemo’s home but the attorney-general said the position of the federal government on the judgment was about law and jurisdiction. 

Mr Malami added: “As far as this matter is concerned, which court is it that has the jurisdiction to determine it and as you rightly know, obedience to court orders and court judgments. But then you have to understand within the context of such obedience that there are associated rights and interests that are vested in the federal government, inclusive of rights of appealing against a judgment, inclusive of right to file an application for setting aside the purported judgment and order. 

“And indeed, inclusive of the possibility of filing a fresh action if indeed the jurisdiction of the court that was alleged to have indeed handed that judgment is an issue. So, we are doing the needful in terms of looking at the law as it exists and then working within the context of the law in ensuring that justice is done as far as the contending issues between the parties are concerned.”