The Federal Government is set to
resume its legal battle to extradite serving senator, Prince Buruji Kashamu to
the United States of America to face trial for an alleged drug trafficking.
The government will on September
24 at the Supreme Court resume the final legal action seeking the lawmaker’s
extradition.
The Supreme Court will on the set
date determine the veracity of the two judgments delivered in favour of the
Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, by the Lagos division of Court of
Appeal on May 4 this year.
Kashamu had in his notice of
appeal to the Supreme Court, complained that the Court of Appeal erred in law
by voiding and setting aside the two judgments of the Federal High Court which
barred Federal Government from going ahead with his extradition.
Kashamu is asking the apex Court
to set aside the decisions of the Court of Appeal as they affected him.
The AGF, acting on behalf of the
Federal Government, filed a counter prayer that the Apex Court should uphold
the judgments of the Court of Appeal which cleared the coast for Kashamu’s
extradition.
The AGF claimed that the Appeal
Court was right in setting aside the judgments of the High Court because they
were based on hearsay evidence of Kashamu before the court.
The AGF is urging the Supreme
Court to allow the judgments of the Court of Appeal to enable the Federal
government extradite the Senator to USA to prove his innocence or otherwise in
the hard drug criminal charge filed against him by the American government
since 2015 when he was alleged to have escaped to Nigeria.
One of the senior lawyers in the
Senator’s legal team, Olusegun Odubela SAN, confirmed to journalists in Abuja
that the senator and the Federal Government have shifted their legal battle on
the extradition to the Supreme Court, adding that Kashamu is challenging the
validity of the two judgments of the Court of Appeal.
Legal luminary, Prince Lateef
Fagbemi SAN, is leading the legal team of the Senator at the Supreme Court
while Chief Emeka Ngige SAN is leading the Federal Government legal team.
However, in spite of his appeal
to the Supreme Court, Senator Kashamu has again filed a fresh fundamental human
rights enforcement suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja where he is praying
the court to bar the federal government from extraditing him or giving effect
to judgments of Appeal Court.
But Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed
had in a ruling on ex-parte motion of Kashamu refused to grant order of interim
injunction against the federal government.
The judge in the ruling delivered
on May 30 refused to stop the execution of the two judgments secured by the
Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice against the
senator representing Ogun East Senatorial district in the senate.
The court held that granting the
request by Kashamu to stay the appellate court decisions against him in an
ex-parte application will be against the rule of law and natural justice.
In the ruling on the ex-parte
application filed against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Justice Mohammed rather asked the
embattled senator to put the AGF and NDLEA on notice in respect of his fresh
suit.
Justice Mohammed had noted that
since what the senator sought in his originating summon was to prevent his
extradition, it will be unfair against the AGF and NDLEA to put the extradition
on hold without going into the merit of the whole issue as contained in the
originating summon.
The Judge, therefore, declined to
stop the implementation of the appeal verdict delivered on May 4 this year.
Kashamu through his counsel Dr.
Alex Izinyun SAN had in the ex-parte motion, argued that he was afraid and
apprehensive that the federal government may likely pick him and extradite him
to USA on the strength of the Court of Appeal Judgments.
He told Justice Mohammed that if
the extradition is executed via the judgments of the appellate court, his
fundamental right to freedom of liberty will be jeopardized.
The senior lawyer argued that if
senator Kashamu is picked by the federal government through the NDLEA; no court
in Nigeria will have jurisdiction to safe him because he (Kashamu) would have
been flown to a foreign country.
Izinyon SAN, insisted that there
is likelihood now of his client being picked by the Federal Government and the
NDLEA adding that his fundamental human rights will be breached in the process.
But Justice Mohammed stood his
ground that his court was not persuaded to stop the appellate court judgment
but will rather wish that Kashamu puts both AGF and NDLEA on notice to show
cause on why the two Judgments against the senator should not be stayed from
execution.
The Court of Appeal had on May 4
cleared the coast for the federal government to extradite the senator, who had
engaged government in a long drawn legal battle since 2014
The appellate court in a landmark
judgment voided and set aside all orders made by a Federal High Court between
2014 and 2017 restraining the government from proceeding with the extradition.
In a judgment in an appeal filed
by the AGF Justice Joseph Ikyeghi held that the orders granted Kashamu by
Justice Okon Abang were invalid, nonsensical and unacceptable to laws because
they were based on hearsays and speculations by Senator Kashamu.
The unanimous judgment was
prepared by Justice Ikyeghi and was delivered by Justice Yargata Nimpar.
The court held that the hearsay
that a former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was instigating the
extradition was not established under any law.
The appeal court said that an
affidavit deposed to by the senator on the issue was worthless and not in compliance
with Evidence Act because the senator himself claimed that he was told by
several persons who were not called to testify in court.
Justice Ikyeghi held that Justice
Abang in his two judgments on the issue erred in law by playing undue reliance
on affidavit that offended Evidence Act to give judgment against the Federal
government.
Consequently, the order of
injunction stopping the extraction process was voided and set aside.
Justice Ikyeghi had agreed with
counsel to the Federal Government, Chief Emeka Ngige SAN, that a statutory body
like the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) can only be prohibited
from performing its statutory functions based on facts and not hearsays and
speculations as in the instant case.
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