Kyari’s case exposes Malami as deliberately filing a case to fail in court
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) says federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami deliberately ensured the extradition case of Abba Kyari failed in court, in Northerners’ plot protecting their criminals.
The Abuja Federal High Court on Monday dismissed the suit against Kyari, a suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police wanted in the United States where he is accused of complicity in the $1.1 million international fraud masterminded by Abbas Ramon, popularly known as Hushpuppi.
Hushpuppi, a former Nigerian Instagram celebrity, awaits sentencing in September after pleading guilty to the scam and other criminal activities.
Washington earlier this year requested the extradition of Kyari to face charges filed against him and other co-defendants in the US in 2021.
HURIWA National Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko cited the court ruling and reiterated that Malami knows it is a fait accompli that Kyari cannot be extradited since he is already facing drug-related crimes brought against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
“This was prearranged and predetermined long before this decision of the Federal High Court which reflected the sinister plot of the AGF to frustrate the actual extradition of the Borno born police officer to the USA”, HURIWA said in a statement.
Justice Inyang Ekwo dismissed as “incompetent and bereft of merit” the extradition application filed by the office of the Attorney General.
He ruled that Malami, being the Chief Law Officer of the country, ought to be aware the Extradition Act forbids the extradition of a defendant already facing trial before a competent court.
Malami’s ‘grand hypocrisy’
“The grand hypocrisy and shenanigan of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) in the DCP Abba Kyari’s case is now obvious.
“The action of the AGF is condemnable since he deliberately filed another matter against Kyari before seeking his extradition when as a lawyer he ought to know that it is a fait accompli since under the law you can’t extradite someone already facing a separate charge in Nigeria.
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Malami ‘in a mad rush to extradite Southerners’
“It is important to ask the justice minister why he didn’t file the extradition suit about a year after Kyari was declared wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation until the NDLEA imbroglio. The whole drama, Nigerians know, is a planned script, the statement added, per reporting by Daily Post.
“HURIWA insists that justice be served on the matter to deter corrupt policemen like Kyari still in the force. The suspended DCP must not be protected but duly prosecuted.
“It is shocking that this same Attorney General of President Buhari is often in a mad rush to extradite Southerners wanted in the USA but had to contrive a safe landing route for their man Abba Kyari.”
The court judgment
“I find that this application was brought in bad faith,” Ekwo said, before dismissing the suit.
The judge stressed Malami was aware of the pendency of Kyari’s trial by the NDLEA in a 25kg cocaine deal case filed earlier this year.
“The consequence of the Extradition Act is that the respondent (Mr Kyari) shall not be surrendered until such a time that he has been discharged or convicted at the conclusion of trial” of the cocaine case, he added, via reporting by Premium Times.
Ekwo referred to Section 3 of the Extradition Act and said the law “preserves the integrity of the municipal laws of the country from which a request is made for the surrendering of a fugitive criminal.
“The legislature intended the preservation of the municipal laws of Nigeria.
“The applicant, being the Attorney General of the Federation, is in a position to know that Mr Kyari is standing trial on offences bordering on the provisions of the NDLEA Act, and ought not to have brought this [extradition] application.
“This application is in breach of Section 3 (6) of the Extradition Act, and by that Act it is incompetent. I make an order dismissing this application.”