By Deborah Onyofufeke
Justce Inyang Ekwo, of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, rejected the application filed by the Federal Government, seeking the extradition of the detained Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Abba Kyari, to the Unite States, to face trial, for his alleged involvement with a popular Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas A.K.A, Hushpuppi.
The court, however, said that the FG’s extraction application request, which was filed through the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, is incompetent and lacked merit.
Ekwo, asked why the AGF, would make such request, when he was equally the one that issued fiat to the National Drug Law Enforcement, NDLEA, to prosecute DCP Kyari on drug related charges.
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He noted that the AGF, who is also the Chief Law Officer of the country, ought to be aware of the Extradition Act, which states that, surrendering a defendant that is already facing trial before a competent court in the country is forbidden
He added that Kyari, having been docked before a court of competent jurisdiction in the country, cannot be extradited to the US for trial.
“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
“As such, he shall not be surrendered until such case has been discharged either by his conviction or acquittal
“Consequently, the extradition request was incompetent and deserved to be dismissed”
It will be recalled that the court had on June 3, reserved the matter for judgement, after it heard from FG’s lawyer, Mr. Pius Akutah, and that of the embattled DCP, Mr. Nureni Jimoh, SAN.
While FG maintained that it had met all condition precedents for the suspended DCP to be sent to the US to answer to a criminal charge that is pending against him, on the other hand, Kyari, challenged the legal competence of the extradition request against him.
Recall that Abass Ramon, aka Hushpuppi, had in America implicated Kyari in a $1.1million wire fraud prompting the American government to request for the extradition of Kyari to the U.S, for trial on the case
The AGF, Abubakar Malami (SAN) filed the extradition charges under the Extradition Act marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022.
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In April 2021, a jury in America filed an indictment against Kyari, with the approval of the US District Court, demanding Kyari, to stand trial for his alleged conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
Consequently, the American embassy requested for Kyari’s extradition saying, “on April 29, 2021, based on the indictment filed by the Grand Jury and with the approval of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, a Deputy Clerk of the court issued a warrant of arrest for Kyari.
“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.”
Malami, had noted, while filing the charge, that the request for the surrender of Kyari, was not made to persecute or punish him on account of his race, religion, nationality or political opinions but in good faith and the interest of justice.
Meanwhile, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had also arrested Kyari on February 12, for investigation over allegations bordering on hard drug trafficking and had since been charged to court upon his indictment.
