Three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Lateef Fagbemi, Alex Izinyon and
\nAkin Olujimi, Tuesday described as illegal any attempt to extradite
\nSenator Buruji Kashamu.<\/p>\n
Fagebmi, Izinyon and Olujimi, in a joint statement, said the United States
\nand the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) would be overstepping
\ntheir bounds by attempting to extradite the senator.<\/p>\n
The SANs said: \u201cThe US did not appeal against any of the two UK judgments
\nin favour of our client.\u00a0 The judgments therefore, remain binding against
\nthe US and Nigeria for ever.\u00a0 Rather than appeal against those judgments,
\nwhat the US did next was to latch on to the conducive atmosphere in
\nNigeria brewed by the political enemies of our client, who even though
\naware that the US had lost out twice in UK courts against our client,
\nmounted unholy pressure on the former Attorney General to commence
\nextradition proceedings against our client. He was therefore forced to
\napproach the courts in Nigeria for redress. Just as the English courts had
\nruled in his favour, four different courts in four different suits in
\nLagos and Abuja found in favour of the Senator.<\/p>\n
\u201cNotwithstanding the various subsisting decisions referred to above given
\nby English and Nigerian courts all outlawing the extradition of our
\nclient, the NDLEA is, in clear disobedience of the various judgments,
\nstill plotting clandestinely with other security agencies at the behest of
\nUS agents to forcibly abduct our client and smuggle him to the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur client\u2019s US lawyers had filed the suit under a law of the United
\nStates which the District court in the US held did not create a private
\nright of action.\u00a0 \u00a0Our client\u2019s US solicitors appealed against the
\ndecision of the District Court in 2016.\u00a0 It was that appeal that the US
\nCourt of Appeals pronounced upon on 23rd January, 2017 by affirming the
\ndecision of the District Court which held that the statute \u2018did not create
\na private right of action\u2019.\u00a0 In other words, it is not open to any
\nindividual to predicate a suit on the statute. Clearly, that was not a
\ndecision on the merit of the issues submitted to the court.<\/p>\n
We are in agreement with the court that mere presence of a US employee
\nduring an arrest by local officials in a foreign land and even assisting
\nthe local officials in an arrest will not amount to attempted abduction.<\/p>\n
What was not put before the US court of appeals for determination and
\nwhich the court did not decide is a situation where the local courts in
\nthe foreign land had given express orders prohibiting arrest, abduction
\nand\/or detention, as done by the Federal High Court in its judgments
\nprohibiting the NDLEA and other security operatives from arresting or
\nremoving and exporting our client to the US. Any arrest or removal in
\nbreach of the orders of the Federal High court will unarguably amount to
\nabduction as defined in Article 2 of the United Nations International
\nConvention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
\nadopted by the General Assembly on 20th December, 2006 to which the
\nattention of the US Court of Appeals was not drawn.\u00a0 Indeed Article 5 of
\nthe Convention renders perpetrators of enforced disappearance and the
\nState which organize, acquiesce in or tolerate such disappearances liable
\nunder civil law, without prejudice to the international responsibility of
\nthe State concerned in accordance with the principles of international
\nlaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. court of appeal did not purport to and cannot overrule the
\ndecision of any Nigerian court which must be obeyed, except set aside by a
\nhigher court in Nigeria…We have no doubt the NDLEA will backtrack from
\nits enthusiasm after reading our analysis of the judgment.\u00a0 It is also
\nworthy of mention that the Central Authority in matters of extradition
\nfrom Nigeria is the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation. The
\nrole of the NDLEA is no more than to provide information that the Attorney
\nGeneral may require in regard to any request for extradition. So, the only
\nauthority who can speak as to what Government is doing on any request for
\nextradition is the Attorney General of the Federation. We are not aware
\nthat the Hon. Attorney General has assigned or delegated his statutory
\nauthority to the NDLEA.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), Lateef Fagbemi, Alex Izinyon and Akin Olujimi, Tuesday described as illegal any attempt to extradite Senator Buruji Kashamu. Fagebmi, Izinyon and Olujimi, in a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n