Bribery Scandal : Don’t extradite me to UK, ex-Mint boss, Okoyomon begs court

says he wants to be tried in Nigeria

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—THE Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, fixed December 1 to decide whether or not the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Security Minting and Printing Company, NSMPC, Mr. Ehidiamhen Okoyomon should be extradited to the United Kingdom to face corruption charges.

Justice Evoh Chukwu adjourned for judgment on a day the accused person, through his lawyer, Dr. Alex Iziyon, SAN, begged the court not to okay the extradition request, saying he would rather prefer to answer to the charges here in Nigeria.

“My Lord, my client is prepared to face the music here. Firstly, he is a Nigerian citizen and wants to be tried according to the Nigerian law. We cannot guarantee that he would be given fair trial over there in the UK. Moreover, according to them, part of the offence was committed in Nigeria. You cannot just bundle any citizen from one country to another, it is a slight on our sovereignty. I urge your Lordship to dismiss this application intoto”, Iziyon pleaded.

The extradition process was initiated before the court by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN. Adoke told the court that the ex-Mint boss was needed in the UK over his alleged role in a bribery scandal involving officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the NSMPC and Securency International Pty of Australia.

The crime was allegedly committed between 2006 and 2008.

Moving the application, yesterday, a lawyer from the office of the AGF, Mr. M.S Hassan, told the court that a District Court in the UK has already issued a warrant of arrest against the accused person. Hassan further tendered several documents in exhibit, among which included an affidavit that was deposed to by one Tapan Debnah, a solicitor with the Serious Fraud Office, SFO, of England, which was sworn before a Westminster Magistrate Court.

The affidavit gave a summary of the allegations against the accused, the punishment prescribed for the offences and the jurisdiction of the court to try the matter. The AGF also adduced the Certified True Copy of the charge, the warrant of arrest issued by a District Judge in the UK, an investigative report on oath deposed to by one Brenda Smith White before the Westminster Magistrate Court, a photograph of the accused person for easy identification, as well as a letter notifying the accused of his success in his application for British citizenship.

Hassan, told the court that the UK government earlier notified the accused in advance of all the documents that will be used in his prosecution. “My Lord that is an indication that he will be given a fair and transparent trial. Moreover he is a British citizen and as it stands today, there is no charge pending against him in Nigeria to warrant his prosecution here. All the Nigerian government wants is for him to go there and clear his name over the charges against him”, the AGF’s lawyer added.

Meantime, the AGF based his application on the extradition treaty of 1931, which he said became applicable in Nigeria in 1935. He maintained that the extradition treaty is an existing law under section 315 of the 1999 constitution, adding that it has not been repealed by any law.

Extradition treaty still in the grave

However, counsel to the accused person, Iziyon, insisted that the said treaty was repealed by Schedule 4 of Decree No 87 of 1966, adding, “nothing has been shown to prove that this 1931 Act has resurrected. It is still in the grave and confined to the legal coffin and, therefore, cannot confer any authority or locus on the Attorney General of the Federation”.

Iziyon further contended that ‘Exhibit B ‘ from the AGF, which is a copy of London Scheme for Extradition, was yet to be domesticated in Nigeria. His argument was countered by counsel to the AGF who told the court that it was duly domesticated in section 12 of the constitution. Hassan added that section 2 of the Extradition Act provided that it should apply to every country within the Commonwealth region.

After listening to all the parties, Justice Chukwu adjourned for judgment, even as he ordered further remand of the accused in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

Okoyomon had in an affidavit in support of the suit dated October 7 and filed on October 10, 2014, which was deposed to by one Josephine Majebi, averred; “That I know that Nigeria is not a party to the 1931 Extradition Treaty between the United States of America and it is not applicable in Nigeria. “That the London Scheme for Extradition within the Commonwealth, 2002, does not apply in Nigeria. That I know as a fact that Nigeria is not a signatory nor has it ratified the Treaty between the United States of America and Great Britain.”

Likewise, he argued that the extradition application failed to satisfy provisions of Sections 1(1) – (6) of the Extradition Act. His lawyer further stressed that the extradition application by the AGF disclosed no cause of action against his client and the AGF, who instituted the application lacked the locus standi to do so.

He said there had been “no Order of the President published in any Federal Gazette applying the provisions of the Extradition Act for the extradition of persons to the United Kingdom.”

“That the United Kingdom is not one of the countries listed in the First Schedule to the Extradition Act, CAP E25, LFN 2004, to which the Extradition Act, Cap 25, LFN, 2004, applies,” the supporting affidavit added.

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Bribery Scandal : Don’t extradite me to UK, ex-Mint boss, Okoyomon begs court