Abibat Amudat popularity known as Lady-K and Noah Oyetunji, the two remaining aides of the Youruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, in DSS custody have been released.
Lead counsel for the accused, Pelumi Olajengbesi made this known in a statement on his Facebook page on Friday.
He said the matter is still pending at the court, the legal team will not be making further statement on the issue.
The DSS had, on July 1, 2021, during a midnight invasion of Igboho’s Soka house in Ibadan, Oyo State, arrested 12 of the activist’s allies and whisked them away to Abuja, where they had been kept in detention.
After a long dilly-dally, the secret police, in compliance with a court order, first released eight of the 12 detainees on Monday, August 30, 2021, holding onto the remaining four.
Those earlier released were Abideen Shittu, Abdullateef Onaolapo, Ayobami Donald, Olakunle Oluwapelumi, Dikeola Ademola, Bamidele Sunday, Raji Kazeem, and Taiwo Tajudeen.
Two more detainees were freed on September 3, 2021. They were Tajudeen Arinloye and Uthman Adelabu, while Babatunde (female) and Oyetunji were released on Friday.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had on August 4, 2021, granted bail to the 12 detainees.
They had met their bail conditions, including the provision of 24 sureties, but the DSS lawyer, Idowu Awo, had kicked against the bail granted by Justice Egwuatu to four of them, claiming that they were heavily involved in the alleged offence of arms stockpiling and other criminal activities of their boss, Igboho.
Olajengbesi wrote,
“This is to officially announce the release of Amudat Babatunde Abibat AKA Lady-K and Jamiu Noah Oyetunji, the remaining two Sunday Igboho’s aides, from the State Security Service Custody today-22nd October, 2021.
“While the matter is still a subject of litigation, we shall have no comment further on this for now.”
‘Lady K ifeoluwa show’ on Facebook, the blogger with over 17,000 followers had turned on her Facebook Live on the midnight of July 1 during the raid of Igboho’s house by the Nigerian security forces.
Seated on a bed in a room in one of the apartments in Igboho’s residence in the Soka area of Ibadan, a fear-torn Lady K had made a 12-minute video, alerting the world that DSS operatives had “attacked” the residence of her boss.
In the video which is still on her Facebook page as of the time of filing this report, an alarmed Lady K had said, “Please share this video, soldiers have attacked Chief Sunday Igboho’s house. We are under attack. Nigerian soldiers have attacked us at Chief Sunday Igboho’s house.
“You can hear the gunshots. This is about 2am. They have been shooting for over 10 minutes now. I had to confirm it before coming on this Live. I heard their gunshots from my sleep. I can’t come out now. They told me not to come out but alert the world through this Facebook Live.”
Igboho’s spokesman, Olayomi Koiki, had also alleged that the DSS removed the closed-circuit television in his principal’s house after the raid, an allegation the DSS has not denied.
Lady K was said to be a member of the media team of the Yoruba Nation arrowhead before the DSS arrested her alongside 11 others during the raid.
The secret police also said its operatives killed two other associates of the activist during a “gun duel”.
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CR/305/2021, which was dated August 31, 2021, the DSS through one of its lawyers, S.M. Bello, had filed five terrorism charges against Oyetunji and Babatunde.
The DSS alleged that Oyetunji and Lady K were in possession of firearms for terrorism-related activities while it specifically alleged that Lady K promoted terrorist acts through her Facebook account.
“That you Amudat Habibat Babatunde (f) adult of Okeara of Ibadan, Oyo State did use your Facebook account as a platform to promote terrorist activities contrary to Section 18 (1 &2) of the Cybercrimes Prohibition Prevention Act 2015,” count five on the charge sheet read.
The court has not fixed any date for the hearing.
But reacting in an earlier chat with The PUNCH, Olajengbesi had described the charges as “baseless, vexatious, shameful and without limbs.”
Igboho, wanted by the DSS for alleged arms trafficking, has been in detention in Cotonou, Benin Republic, since July 19, 2021 when he was arrested at an airport as he tried to board a Germany-bound flight.
The Nigerian government has reportedly pushed for the extradition of the activist to Abuja from the French-speaking West African country but the efforts have not been fruitful in the last three months since his incarceration.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had in his Independence Day broadcast on October 1, 2021, alleged that Igboho, and Nnamdi Kanu, the embattled leader of South-East based secessionist group, the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, were sponsored by a top member of the National Assembly as well as other personalities in the country.
