Court dismisses extradition case against Senator Buruji Kashamu
A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed an
application for the extradition of Senator Buruji
Kashamu, to the United States of America to face
illicit drugs related offence trial.
The immediate past Attorney-General and Minister
of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, had filed the
application on May 28, 2015 upon an alleged United
State government's request asking the Nigerian
government to submit Kashamu for extradition.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole in his ruling held that he
lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit in the face of
the subsisting orders and judgments of the Federal
High Court, Lagos in Suit Nos. FHC/L/CS/49/2010 and
FHC/L/CS/508/2015 restraining the National Drug
Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Attorney-
General of the Federation (AGF) from entertaining
any extradition request from the United States of
America against Kashamu on the basis of the same
allegations from Kashamu had been exonerated by
two British court judgments.
Justice Kolawole noted that the various judgments
and orders of the British and Nigerian courts had
not been appealed or set aside by an appellate
court.
Justice Okon Abang of the Lagos Division of the
Federal High Court had on June 8, 2015 nullified the
extradition proceedings which he said were initiated
on in contravention of an earlier order of the court.
Abang's orders nullifying steps taken by the NDLEA
and AGF were affirmed by Justice Ibrahim Buba in a
ruling on June 23, 2015 who said subsisting orders
and judgements of the court must be obeyed until
set aside by a superior court.
Though Justice Kolawole expressed reservations on
the Lagos judgments, which he described as "wide
and perhaps wild," he held that it was the exclusive
duty of the Court of Appeal to determine whether
they were valid or not.
Kashamu's counsel, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede had on
June 25, 2015, when the case came up for the first
time, urged the court to strike out the extradition
application in the light of the previous subsisting
judgments.
However, Justice Kolawole, who cited several
authorities to the effect that the court is enjoined to
take judicial notice of developments related to a
case, noted that he had sometime in 2013 ruled in
another application seeking to register the two
British court judgments that even without
registering same, the judgments were enough shield
for Kashamu against any fresh extradition
proceedings.
The judge then dismissed the suit, describing same
as an abuse of court process.
While the Kashamu's legal team comprised of Dr.
Alex Iziyon (SAN), Mr. Ahmed Raji (SAN) and Prince
Ajibola Oluyede, the AGF's team was led by a Deputy
Director in the Office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation, Mr. M. I. Hassan.
