Dr Kayode Ajulo, a Constitutional Lawyer and Activist, says
extradition of DCP Abba Kyari to the U.S. is not automatic as being speculated.
A U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
had alleged that a suspect, Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi used Kyari, Commander,
IGP Intelligence Response Monitoring Team to arrest and jail a co-conspirator,
Chibuzo Vincent, after the latter threatened to expose an alleged one million
dollars fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had issued an arrest warrant
against Kyari for his alleged links to Hushpuppi, who was standing trial for
various offences that included internet fraud and money laundering, among
others.
In a statement on Friday in Lagos, Ajulo said that strict adherence to international and municipal legal mechanisms must be observed before extradition could take place.
He said a citizen of Nigeria as a sovereign state could not
be expelled/extradited from the country without strict adherence to provisions
of the Constitution and International protocols.
“What is more, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the U.S.
are bound by provisions of the Extradition Treaty signed on Dec. 22, 1931
(entered into force on June 24, 1935) including Extradition Act of 1966,
(Extradition Modification) Order, 2014, Extradition Act (Proceedings) Rules,
2015 and other International Protocols.
“By the provision of Section 6 of the Extradition Act, a
request for the surrender of a fugitive criminal of any country shall be made
in writing to the Attorney-General by a diplomatic representative or consular
officer of that country and shall be accompanied by a duly authenticated warrant
of arrest or certificate of conviction issued in that country.
“Thereafter, the office of the Attorney General of the
Federation will have to conduct a discreet and thorough investigation into the
said allegations.
“And upon the conclusion of same, if there is any prima
facie case against DCP Kyari, commence extradition processes against him in a
Court of competent jurisdiction within the Nigerian Territory and obtain an
Order of Court in line before he can be extradited to the U.S.
“The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami
(SAN) has a humongous task ahead in this saga as events unfolds,” Ajulo said.
He, however, lamented that Kyari’s alleged U.S. indictment
was an unfortunate situation involving Nigeria’s ‘Star Cop”.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Baba had on
Thursday, ordered an “internal review of the allegations” against Kyari, by the
U.S. court.
The IGP reaffirmed the Nigeria Police’s commitment to the
pursuit of justice and strengthening of its professional relationship with the
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and other international partners.
Hushpuppi had since pleaded guilty to the charge.
If convicted, he risks a 20-year-jail term, three-year
supervision upon completion of the jail term and monetary restitution to the
tune of 500,000 dollars or more.
The criminal complaint that initiated the prosecution
against Hushpuppi and in the ultimate, Kyari, was unsealed Monday.
It revealed that Hushpuppi pleaded guilty on April 20, 2021
to his role in the school-finance scheme, as well as several other cyber and
business email compromise schemes that cumulatively caused more than 24m
dollars in losses to his victims. (NAN)
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