Sunday Igboho: No Law Permits Arrests At Night — Falana SAN Lambasts SSS

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on Monday, lambasted the
Department of State Services over what he described as a “nocturnal
coup” carried out on the Ibadan residence of Yoruba activist,
Sunday Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho, last Thursday.

“There is no law in Nigeria that allows you to arrest somebody
in the dead of the night when you are not planning a coup and you
are not an armed robber,” Falana said on Channels Television’s
‘Politics Today’ programme.

Speaking on the television programme, Falana described as late,
the decision of the Southern governors in Lagos State on Monday
that security agencies must notify them as the chief security
officer of their states before they carry out any operation within
their domain.

“It is a decision that is coming rather late. Governors are
chief security officers of their states in line with the
constitution. Each state has a security council and the governor is
the chairman,” he said.

Recall that the DSS on Thursday morning around 1am invaded the
residence of Igboho in a Gestapo style. Though Igboho had escaped
the raid, his house and cars were riddled with bullets while
bloodstains splattered over the floors of the house. The DSS also
said it killed two of his associates in a gun duel. Thirteen of
Igboho’s guards and close associates were later paraded in Abuja on
Thursday evening.

The secret police had since declared Igboho wanted. The activist
is being accused of stockpiling weapons to allegedly destabilise
the country under the guise of agitation for Yoruba nation but he
has since denied the allegation, saying he protects himself with
charms and not weapons.

Continuing, the senior advocate said, “You can’t have a
situation where nocturnal arrests are made in a state as if you are
planning a coup. Take Ibadan for instance, the invasion of the home
of Igboho happened in the night and for all-day, everybody was
wondering who did and that seven people were killed. People were
arrested and abducted at 2am, the governor of the state wasn’t
aware. So, everybody was trying to find out, calling security
agencies, only for the State Security Service to issue a very
provocative statement after almost 12 hours to say, ‘We did it, we
killed two people, we raided a house’. Somebody attempted to evade
arrest and you killed two people? The governor of the state wasn’t
aware?

“In these days of kidnappings, anybody can come to your house in
the night and arrest you. And these are guys who don’t wear
uniforms.”

“There is no provision, unless a crime is being committed in the
night; you cannot go there and arrest. In this case, you are
required by law to bring a search warrant. In this case, there was
no search warrant, nobody took an inventory.

“Now, Sunday Adeyemo has said I didn’t have any gun in my house.
Yet, the SSS paraded guns and other ammunition. All the
controversies would have been unnecessary if the SSS had behaved
like a modern, civilised agency.

“These are very dangerous legacies of military dictatorship in
our country,” he stated.

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on Monday, lambasted the
Department of State Services over what he described as a “nocturnal
coup” carried out on the Ibadan residence of Yoruba activist,
Sunday Adeyemo also known as Sunday Igboho, last Thursday.

“There is no law in Nigeria that allows you to arrest somebody
in the dead of the night when you are not planning a coup and you
are not an armed robber,” Falana said on Channels Television’s
‘Politics Today’ programme.

Speaking on the television programme, Falana described as late,
the decision of the Southern governors in Lagos State on Monday
that security agencies must notify them as the chief security
officer of their states before they carry out any operation within
their domain.

“It is a decision that is coming rather late. Governors are
chief security officers of their states in line with the
constitution. Each state has a security council and the governor is
the chairman,” he said.

Recall that the DSS on Thursday morning around 1am invaded the
residence of Igboho in a Gestapo style. Though Igboho had escaped
the raid, his house and cars were riddled with bullets while
bloodstains splattered over the floors of the house. The DSS also
said it killed two of his associates in a gun duel. Thirteen of
Igboho’s guards and close associates were later paraded in Abuja on
Thursday evening.

The secret police had since declared Igboho wanted. The activist
is being accused of stockpiling weapons to allegedly destabilise
the country under the guise of agitation for Yoruba nation but he
has since denied the allegation, saying he protects himself with
charms and not weapons.

Continuing, the senior advocate said, “You can’t have a
situation where nocturnal arrests are made in a state as if you are
planning a coup. Take Ibadan for instance, the invasion of the home
of Igboho happened in the night and for all-day, everybody was
wondering who did and that seven people were killed. People were
arrested and abducted at 2am, the governor of the state wasn’t
aware. So, everybody was trying to find out, calling security
agencies, only for the State Security Service to issue a very
provocative statement after almost 12 hours to say, ‘We did it, we
killed two people, we raided a house’. Somebody attempted to evade
arrest and you killed two people? The governor of the state wasn’t
aware?

“In these days of kidnappings, anybody can come to your house in
the night and arrest you. And these are guys who don’t wear
uniforms.”

“There is no provision, unless a crime is being committed in the
night; you cannot go there and arrest. In this case, you are
required by law to bring a search warrant. In this case, there was
no search warrant, nobody took an inventory.

“Now, Sunday Adeyemo has said I didn’t have any gun in my house.
Yet, the SSS paraded guns and other ammunition. All the
controversies would have been unnecessary if the SSS had behaved
like a modern, civilised agency.

“These are very dangerous legacies of military dictatorship in
our country,” he stated.