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Sunday Igboho sues DSS, demands N500m

Yoruba activist Chief Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho has sued the Department of State Service (DSS) and he is demanding the sum of N500 million for attacking and damaging his house and propriety.

Sunday Igboho through his lawyer Chief Yomi Alliyu SAN, on Sunday, is also asking the DSS for apology and called on the Federal Government to probe and sanction the actions of the various security operatives involve in the raid of his home just as he called for the release of all innocent persons arrested and the families of those murdered compensate.

“Our client should also be paid N500million as reparation for damage to his exotic cars that include Mercedes Benz G-Class and 2019 Lexus Car. We also demand a public apology.

“Most importantly, trampling of our client’s fundamental rights, including tagging him as criminal by exhibiting DSS guns as his should stop forthwith.” Alliyu SAN said.

Recall that the has said it arrested 13 suspects when it raided the Ibadan residence of Mr Sunday Igboho.

The Public Relations Officer of DSS, Dr Peter Afunanya, disclosed this at a media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

He said the operation was based on intelligence report that Igboho had stockpiled arms in his residence.

According to him, on approaching the residence, the DSS team came under heavy gun attack by nine men, suspected to be Igboho’s guards.

He six of the men were armed with AK-47 and the three others with Pump-Action rifles.

“In the course of the exchange, two of Igboho’s armed men were gunned down while the rest were subdued and arrested.

“Only one DSS operative, who was shot by the assailants on his right hand, sustained injury. He has, however, received medical attention and is very stable,’ he said.

Afunanya said seven AK-47 assault rifles, three pump action guns, 30 fully charged AK-47 magazines, 5,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and five cutlasses were recovered from Igboho’s residence.

Other items recovered were one jack knife, one pen knife, two pistol holsters, one binoculars, a wallet containing five dollars in one dollar denomination, local and international driver’s licences in Igboho’s name.

Afunanya said ATM cards, a German residence permit No. YO2N6K1NY bearing his name, two whistles, 50 cartridges, 18 walkie-talkies, three charm jackets/traditional body armour, two laptops and his travel passport were also recovered.

He said the media briefing was to inform Nigerians and the world that Igboho and his group, in the guise of campaigning for self determination, had become well armed and determined to undermine public order.

The DSS spokesman said the arrests and seizures were a confirmation of a grand plan by Igboho and his cohorts to wage a violent insurrection against the Nigerian State.

According Alliyu SAN in a statement on Sunday he said: “We are counsel to Chief Sunday Adeyemo (otherwise known as Sunday Igboho Oosa) and we have his standing instructions to defend and act as his counsel in all situations we deem appropriate, especially where his fundamental rights as a citizen of Nigeria is violated or threatened, as done on Thursday, 1 July 2021.

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“Every Nigerian, albeit the whole world, is aware that in his open crusade for the establishment of Oodua Republic, our client has always preached peace and warned his followers never to have recourse to violence, saying that ‘it is God and alale’ that will fight for the Yoruba Nation.

“We can boldly say that, as people who followed his campaign, but not necessarily supporting dismemberment of Nigeria, no casualty has ever occurred wherever such rallies were carried out. This must have been done in more than 20 Yoruba towns and cities, as of date.

“It must be reiterated, and with emphasis that it is the right of a group of homogeneous and/or indigenous people in a federation to ask for self-determination, following the rules of international law and UNO Charter.

“We were reliably informed that the DSS and other security forces invaded the residence of our client in wee hours of the day (between 1.00hr and 4.30hrs).

“There is nowhere in civilised world that a citizen, who had no prior invitation by security agent or resisting arrest, will be so invaded with his rights to dignity of human persons, ownership of property and sanctity of life trampled upon during the invasion.

“No demand to enter was made but rather, they shot their way into the house, allegedly killing seven people, though DSS spokesman admitted killing two people which involved an old imam that used to lead Muslim occupants in prayers and observing TAHJUD at the time of the barbaric raid.

“A lady among the invaders was allegedly shouting, ‘if you get him, gun him down.’ There and then our client knew that the mission was to get rid of him and not to arrest him.

“This belief becomes more realistic because the CCTV recorder was off and taken away so that the carnage will not be shown to members of the public. Our client then knew that he was to be taking dead or alive as allegedly stated by the lady among the raiders.

“It should be stated that without any resistance or shooting at the security operatives, they started shooting from the gate, ensuring that the building was made uninhabitable. Also, all the expensive vehicles in our client’ house were shot at and destroyed.

“The rampaging operatives were disappointed that they could allegedly not find a single gun or ammunition in our client’s house, hence they arrested two police escorts of Mr. Igboho’s guests.

“(They) added their (the two police escorts) guns to those harvested from their armoury to make members of the public believe that our client keeps militia, or as stated by them, he is about waging war on Nigeria.

“Will this be with his mere amulets? People who know our client for over 20 years will testify that Igboho Oosa does not carry a gun on his person

“It is elementary law that whenever a search warrant is executed on a house the house owner must first search the persons sent to execute same and also sign the inventory of what was recovered in executing the warrant.

“This explains why the DSS invaded the house in the night, shooting everything at sight, killing and maiming the occupants to plant their illegal guns on our client.

“We have also been reliably informed that those arrested were being tortured to incriminate our client that guns and ammunition were recovered from his house.

“Sunday Igboho knew that he would be arrested one day hence retaining our services. He could not be that daft to keep incriminating articles in his house.

“Our client’s house is a five-bedroom duplex with five chalets of two and three bedrooms. These were damaged with operatives allegedly arguing on whether to burn down the edifice as done to his former palatial house. The lady officer allegedly put her foot down against arson.

“€1000, N2 million, expensive jewellery worth millions, travel documents, amulets, iPhone 12 belonging to him, phones of about 15 others living in the house, including those killed by the raiders and other belongings yet to be identified belonging to his wives were carted away. The only guns were those of the police escorts of his guests.

“More importantly, the DSS and other operatives that raided the house said they came to arrest Sunday Igboho but ended up arresting innocent people instead of him.

“Apart from being a serious violation of these peoples’ constitutional rights, it is an assault on Section 7 of ACJA and decisions of our courts in that regard.

“We, hereby, demand that the Federal Government orders an investigation into the actions of the various security operatives, led by DSS, that raided Chief Adeyemo’s house to sanction them and release all the innocent people arrested and compensate the families of those murdered.

“Our client should also be paid N500million as reparation for damage to his exotic cars that include Mercedes Benz G-Class and 2019 Lexus Car. We also demand a public apology.

“Most importantly, trampling of our client’s fundamental rights, including tagging him as criminal by exhibiting DSS guns as his should stop forthwith.”

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