Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday gave the Department of State Services six days within which to produce Igboho’s aides in court.
It also ordered the DSS to show cause why the 12 applicants should not be admitted to bail on July 29, which is the next adjourned date.
Earlier, the counsel for the 12 detained aides of the activist, Pelumi Olajengbesi, while arguing his ex parte motion before the court, said his clients who were applicants in the case, were arrested by agents of the state and had not been heard from since their detention.
He stated that the exhibit which formed part of his motion was a letter written to the DSS to enable the applicants to gain access to their lawyers and family members.
The lawyer lamented that in spite of the letter, the DSS did not oblige them access to the applicants who had been in their custody for over 20 days.
Olajengbesi craved the indulgence of the court in the interest of justice to grant the reliefs sought.
In his ex parte motion, Olajengbesi prayed the court on behalf of the applicants for an order “mandating and compelling the respondents to produce the applicants to enable the court to inquire into the circumstances constituting the grounds of their arrest and detention since July 1, 2021.”
The lawyer also sought the order of the court mandating and compelling the respondents to produce the applicants before the court and “show cause as to why the applicants should not be granted bail in accordance with the provision of Section 32 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and other extant laws in Nigeria.”
Olajengbesi argued that the applicants are citizens of Nigeria with inherent rights.
The ex-parte motion was supported with an eight-paragraph affidavit, exhibit, eleven-paragraph affidavit of extreme urgency, affidavit of non-complicity of action, and a written address.
The detained aides had instituted a suit against the DSS and its Director-General, Yusuf Bichi, following their arrest and detention on July 1, 2021 after the DSS’ raid on Igboho’s residence in the Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
The applicants are Abdulateef Ofeyagbe, Amoda Babatunde, Tajudeen Erinoyen, Diekola Ademola, Abideen Shittu, Jamiu Noah, and Ayobami Donald.
Others are Adelabe Usman, Oluwapelimi Kunle, Raji Kazeem, Taiwo Opeyemi, and Bamidele Sunday.
