Alleged $1.1bn Fraud: Court Dismisses FG’s Application for Abba Kyari’s Extradition to US
Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has dismissed the federal government’s application for the extradition of the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP, Abba Kyari to the United States of America (US)over fraud allegations.
Justice Ekwo in a judgment delivered yesterday dismissed the request for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
Kyari is the subject of an indictment in case number 2:21-cr-00203 (also referred to as 2:21-mj-00760 and 2:21-cr-00203-rgk), filed April 29, 2021, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
He was said to have been indicted in an international wire fraud worth over $1.1 billion traced to another Nigerian, Abass Ramon, also known as Hushpuppi. Following his indictment, the foreign government had last year written the authorities in Nigeria, seeking the arrest and subsequent extradition of the once ‘supercop’ of the Nigeria Police Force to the US to give his own side of the story.
In line with the US request the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) had early this year filed for the extradition of Kyari to the US to face charges involving him and five others including two Nigerians based in the US.
Delivering judgment in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022, Justice Ekwo, however, held that the request was not proper since the federal government is already prosecuting Kyari over alleged corruption.
According to the judge, the AGF, being the Chief Law Officer of the country, ought to know that the Extradition Act does not permit the extradition of a defendant that is already facing trial before a competent court of law in the country.
Faulting the application further, Justice Ekwo queried the rationale of the AGF in filing for Kyari’s extradition when he was equally the one that issued the FIAT to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), to prosecute Kyari on drug related charges.
Ekwo said: “The AGF could not say that he was not aware of the pending proceeding against the defendant which was entered against him by the NDLEA”.
Ekwo stated that the position of the law was very clear that the suspended DCP, having been arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction in the country, “shall not be surrendered until such case has been discharged either by his conviction or acquittal”.
He subsequently held that the extradition request was incompetent and deserved to be dismissed.
