Nigerian govt under fire as activist Deji Adeyanju clocks 50 days in prison

ENTERTAINIC
Political activists with ties to Deji Adeyanju have accused the Buhari administration of keeping him in prison as part of a plot to inflict physical and mental pains on him and diminish his impact during the upcoming presidential elections.
Mr Adeyanju has been kept perpetually in custody since the Nigerian police lured him to their office in Abuja on December 13.
Fifty days later, the activist has not been granted bail despite a slew of fundamental rights lawsuits filed by his associates.
The activist has spent so long in prison even though the police do not seem to have a justifiable case against him.
The police said Mr Adeyanju was a suspect in a homicide that occurred in Kano in January 2005.
Ruse
But Mr Adeyanju’s associates have dismissed the charges as a ruse, and accuse the police of embarking on a witch-hunt against a popular activist despised by the government and its supporters.
“While it is true that Deji Adeyanju was charged for murder in Kano over 14 years ago, it has been about 10 years now since he was discharged and acquitted in the same matter,” Ariyo-Dare Atoye, a long-time associate of Mr Adeyanju’s, told ENTERTAINIC REPORT Friday afternoon. “The police have no reason to arrest Deji Adeyanju and that is one of the reasons why we are suspecting an ethno-religious persecution of our friend.”
ENTERTAINIC REPORT first reported in December that Mr Adeyanju was identified as a prime suspect in a murder investigation in 2005, but our findings showed he was discharged and acquitted in the matter.
Statements issued to ENTERTAINIC REPORT by Festus Keyamo, who represented Mr Adeyanju in the case, complemented court documents that were later seen by this newspaper.
Both sources established that Mr Adeyanju’s matter was dispensed in 2009 following a lengthy trial that saw him spend four years awaiting trial in a Kano jail.
Mr Keyamo’s initial reaction to Mr Adeyanju’s arrest, especially the confirmation that he was his attorney and disclosure of court documents, gave early hopes to his associates that the prominent rights lawyer would help in securing his release.
Dashed Hopes
However, their position flipped following long silence from Mr Keyamo as the case dragged on, leaving Mr Adeyanju in prison.
Already, Mr Atoye has led others in accusing Mr Keyamo of compromising his professionalism by allowing Mr Adeyanju to suffer in jail to please his political interest. They have petitioned to have his status as a senior lawyer withdrawn.

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