Sunday Igboho: Obasanjo intervenes, reportedly meets Beninese President


Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in Benin Republic some days ago over the Sunday Igboho debacle, The Cable reports.

He had travelled to Zanzibar in Tanzania on August 1 and rerouted to the Francophone nation.

Obasanjo was said to have met with Benin’s President Patrice Talon after his condolence visit to Nicephore Soglo on his wife’s demise. Roseline was 87 years old.

Soglo was Beninise President from 1991 to 1996 and was one of the African leaders who intervened when the late General Sani Abacha jailed Obasanjo in 1995.

Igboho is in trouble in Nigeria and the Benin Republic. While the latter is probing the passport he carried, Nigerian authorities accuse him of planning to stage a war against the state.

The July 1 Department of State Services (DSS) operation at his Soka residence, Ibadan, in Oyo State unearthed assault rifles and ammunition. Two of his allies were killed while others face trial.

On several occasions, Igboho boasted that he has the capacity to acquire weapons and face security agencies.

Ten days after he was declared wanted in Nigeria, Igboho and his wife Ropo, were apprehended at the Cadjèhoun Airport in Cotonou.

On July 21, it was reported that the Federal Government had commenced the process to extradite Igboho from Benin Republic.

Nigeria will barely face stiff resistance from the Beninise government.

Apart from decades of close bond, Africa’s most populous nation plays a “big brother” role to its neighbour.