A Benin Republic court has remanded four Nigerian nationals arrested and arraigned for illegal migration in the country.
These Nigerian nationals were earlier declared missing by their family members after alerting the public that their whereabouts were unknown following a business trip to Benin Republic.
A family source told SaharaReporters on Monday that their mobile lines had not been reachable since Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
According to the family source, the four men earlier confirmed their arrival in Benin Republic on Tuesday, October 22, and that they were staying at the F&F Hotel in the Savalou region.
The source later told SaharaReporters that their wives were later able to reach the men and confirmed that they had been arrested.
He said the Benin Republic Government arrested and arraigned them in court for illegal entry into the West African country.
“They were all arraigned in court this morning,” the source told SaharaReporters on Tuesday morning.
When SaharaReporters reached out to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), its Director of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, advised the family to hire legal representatives for the arrested suspects.
He also urged them to write a petition to the Commission for proper action to be taken on the matter.
In an interview with SaharaReporters on Thursday morning, a family member claimed that Nigerian nationals were denied bail by the court.
According to the source, this was because they were not represented by a lawyer when they were arraigned.
He stated that the family cannot afford to hire a lawyer and that the Beninese government would not give one to them freely even though they are on trial for criminal offences.
He said the matter has been adjourned to next Wednesday, meaning that the four suspects will spend the next seven days in prison.
The source said: “Their matter was adjourned to next Wednesday. We couldn’t hire a lawyer. The cost is prohibitive. There was an interpreter for the culprits. The lawyer wanted to collect 800,000 CFA, equivalent to N5 million and we can’t afford it.”
“No lawyer, only an interpreter (was there). No bail. They were taken back to prison,” the source added.