Jail term awaits Igboho, if he truly obtained Beninoise Passport – Ajase Chief

*Says Benin small but has strict laws

By KEMI KASUMU

It has been said that Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a. Sunday Igboho risks being jailed by the laws of Republic of Benin, if truly the Nigeria’s Yoruba tribalist ‘warlord’ was actually caught with international passport of the country, especially fake.

This was made known by a strong chief of Ajase, a Yoruba speaking area in the Francophone country, Chief Toluwalase.

Toluwalase, who is also a council of chiefs representative in the country, said this while speaking with BBC News Yoruba, on Thursday.

He explained that the council of chiefs in Republic of Benin made effort over the Igboho issue but expressed concern that hardly can he be helped, as Benin Republic, he said, has a system of law that is very strict, especially on the process of obtaining its Passport.

Chief Toluwalaṣẹ, who also took time out to explain the steps taken towards obtaining Benin Passport, gave details of crime that Sunday Igboho committed against the law of the small but strict West African country due to the fake documents he used to fly to Germany.

On why jail awaits Igboho if he truly obtained Benin Passport and it is fake, Chief Toluwalase said officials who helped him in the illegal process would also get their part of the sentence.

He said it is impossible for anyone to obtain the country’s international passport without having to first obtain the National Identity Card (NIC) to prove his citizenship of the country.

“Even a citizen that has no National Identity Card cannot obtain Benin international passport. If he dares, a big danger awaits him and it can also be jail sentence.

“Let me take example from my own personal experience. I am citizen of Republic of Benin, who has five children. My wife is from Ijebu tribe of Nigeria, who bore me five children out of which three have Benin as their place of birth and the remaining two born in Nigeria.

“The point I want you to get is that, only the three children I had in Benin have peemit to obtain the National Identity Card of Benin. My other two children I had in Nigeria have no such authority to obtain the passport.

“Even my wife that gave birth to those children has no permit to obtain this Passport, except after we will have gone to do wedding in court of Republic of Benin, then she can be allowed to obtain the National Identity Card of the Republic of Benin.

“It hasn’t stopped there. It is only after some months or years to the marriage that she can now be able to obtain Benin Passport.

“One particular way that non-citizen can obtain Benin Passport is to marry a woman who is citizen and do marriage with her.

”The long hand of law easily catches up with people who carry fake Passport of Republic of Benin because they don’t always have National Identity Card of the country,” the chief explained in Yoruba to the BBC News Yoruba as published on its website on Thursday.

Chief Toluwalase said it is easy for people with fake documents to be detected in Benin because they do not have National Identification Number (NIN) which they should have before they obtain international passport of the country.

According to him, the NIC in the Francophone country must have names of four or five families, who will confirm that the names actually belong to them.

“It is court that sends invitation letter to the families to come and testify that they know the person who has applied for the passport.”

On the number of years imprisonment for the offender, Chief Toluwalase said:

“I cannot say exactly the number of years of sentence for him that possesses fake documents but, if Igboho obtained passport in Benin, it is certain that he will be jailed along with all officials that are involved in processing the fake documents for him, no matter their status even if they are very important kings in the society.”