Extradition: Court to rule on application seeking to arrest Kashamu
Fatimah Abdullahi
A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday fixed July 1 for its ruling on an application brought by the Federal Government seeking a warrant of arrest against Senator Buruji Kashamu.
The presiding judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole in his short ruling on the application, said he would also decide on whether there were enough grounds for the commencement of the extradition proceedings against Kashamu same day.
At the resumed hearing of the application, counsel to the Federal Government, M. S. Hassan, had prayed the court to issue a bench warrant against Kashamu for him to appear in court to face the extradition case against him.
Kashamu’s counsel, Oluyede, who held brief of Alex Izinyon (SAN), had in his submissions asked the court to strike out the matter as the orders made by Justices Ibrahim Buba and O.E. Abba of Federal High Court, Lagos had extinguished the current action by the prosecution.
He urged the court to give effect to the orders made by the two courts and strike out the matter.
Prosecution counsel, Hassan, in his response, urged the court to discountenance the submissions of the defence counsel, saying that Federal High Court in Lagos had no supervisory jurisdiction over the one in Abuja.
According to him, at the time the orders were made in Lagos, the extradition process had not been initiated and urged Justice Kolawole to nullify the orders of the Lagos courts, pointing out that a court of coordinate jurisdiction could nullify an order made in error by another court.
It would be recalled that the extradition application No.? FHC/ABJ/CS/479/2015, filed before the court on May 28, 2015 was signed by the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN).
The application followed a request by the Embassy of the United States of America seeking the Nigerian government to surrender Kashamu to face a drug related charge before the United States District Court for the Northern Illinois, Eastern Division.
An affidavit deposed to by Assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Diane MacArthur, attached to the extradition request from the US government was said to be dated April 27, 2015.
