Abba Kyari: How Extradition between Nigeria and The USA works
Nigeria’s Abba Kyari, a deputy commissioner of police, is wanted in the United States after court documents submitted by the Department of Justice indicted him of receiving funds from one Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas.
Following this allegation, the ‘Supercop’ was suspended by the police service commission and removed as head of the Police Intelligent Team.
The United States Attorney’s Office at the Central District of California issued an order to the FBI ordering the arrest of Kyari.
But how does extradition work between Nigeria and the US?
Extradition is the process “by which a person accused or convicted of a crime is officially transferred to the State/country where the individual is either wanted for trial or required to serve a sentence after being duly convicted by a court of law.”
Nigeria signed an Extradition Treaty with the US on December 22, 1931, and it came into force on June 24, 1935. This was done by the British colonial government and the United States. With Nigeria being a colony of the British government, the treaty was binding.
Following Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960, the treaty became a statute of general application as with all the laws Nigeria inherited.
An Extradition Decree was issued in 1967, which later became an Extradition Act that has validated the treaty till now.
The treaty stipulates that the “contracting Parties engage to deliver up to each other, under certain circumstances and conditions stated in the present Treaty, those persons who, being accused or convicted of any of the crimes or offences enumerated in Article 3, committed within the jurisdiction of the one Party, shall be found within the territory of the other Party.”
The most common crimes which may be subject to extradition include murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, terrorism, rape, sexual assault, burglary, embezzlement, and arson.
A person cannot be extradited due to their political ideology, race, religion or nationality. In the case where two or more countries submit extradition requests, preference is given to the first request.
Before Abba Kyari can be extradited to the United States to face the charges levied against him, the US must first send a request to Nigeria’s ministry of justice through its embassy in Nigeria.
Article 9 stipulates that: “the extradition shall take place only if the evidence be found sufficient, according to the laws of the High Contracting Party applied to, either to justify the committal of the prisoner for trial, in case the crime or offence had been committed in the territory of such High Contracting Party.”
If the US submits an extradition request to Nigeria, an investigation will be carried out to find out whether a crime has truly been committed. If the attorney-general is satisfied with the investigation and believes a crime has been committed, he notifies a court. The hearing will allow the defendant to provide reasons why they should not be extradited. If the court agrees with the defendant, the extradition can be dismissed. If the court believes a crime has been committed, it would order that the defendant be extradited.
Following this judgment, the United States will be notified, and an agreement will be reached on how the defendant will be handed over for onward prosecution. As contained in the treaty, the requesting country covers the financial cost of the extradition.
The case of Adedeji Adeniran
There is no recorded case of any extradition from the United States to Nigeria. However, there have been numerous cases of persons being extradited from Nigeria to the US. Most of the extradition requests and approvals have been related to drug trafficking, cyber-crime and terrorism. One notable case is of Adedeji Adeniran, who was extradited to the US on November 2, 2019.
The 56-year-old was accused of being the leader of a criminal group that committed large bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud conspiracy that involved a loss of $4.1 million and involved 42 financial institutions between 2002 and 2004.
According to court documents, “the group members deposited counterfeited or forged checks into those accounts and then wired the proceeds of the fraud to Hong Kong, Turkey, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.”
On May 2, 2005, a grand jury in the Northern District of Florida returned a 20-count indictment against Adeniran.
Following this, the US formally requested Adeniran’s extradition from Nigeria. An investigation was carried out, and a court in Nigeria issued a warrant for his arrest in October. 23, 2018. He was arrested five months later, and his bail request was denied. The court found him extraditable on May 21, 2019. The minister of justice and attorney-general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, issued a surrender order on October 17, 2019, and Adediran was ultimately handed over to US authorities.
