Twelve detained aides of Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho will have to remain in the Department of State Services (DSS) custody despite meeting all bail conditions, because the Judge who is supposed to sign their release warrant allegedly travelled out of the country.
Disclosing this is the detainees’ lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi on Tuesday, 17 August, 2021, in an interview with The PUNCH.
According to Olajengbesi, the presiding judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Obiora Egwuatu was supposed to sign the release warrant of his clients today, but the bail office of the court informed him that the judge travelled out of the country on short notice, therefore leaving the 12 detained aides of the Yoruba Nation agitator stranded.
“We have met all the bail conditions and the deputy registrar at the bail office has signed a memo to that effect. However, I was told by the bail office that the judge that will sign their release order has travelled out urgently for a seminar and will not return till next week” Olajengbesi said.
The lawyer said the sudden trip of the judge was a plan to delay the release of his clients after their detention for about 50 days in the custody of the Department of State Services.
Recall that DSS operatives arrested 12 persons on July 1, 2021, during a raid on Igboho’s Ibadan residence around 1am.
Following their trail at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on the 4th of August, 2021, the Court granted their bail application, asking each of the 12 detainees to get two sureties each before it can release them on bail.
The detainees had secured the sureties last week but the bail office of the court said it needed to write letters to the offices of the 24 sureties to get more confirmation.
