SAN FRANCISCO, June 01, (THEWILL) – The federal government’s bid to arrest and extradite Senator Buruji Kashamu to the United States on narcotics related charges has been frustrated by a Federal High Court in Abuja which dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction and abuse of court process.
Presiding judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, held that the suit was filed after orders were made by Justices Ibrahim Buba and O.E. Abang of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on the same subject matter.
The judges had blocked the arrest and extradition of the senator.
Kolawole said the ruling had robbed him of jurisdiction to entertain the case and constituted a gross abuse of court process, since the Lagos Federal High Court had coordinate jurisdiction with that of Abuja.
“The instant suit was initiated in flagrant abuse of and disobedience to the orders made by Justices Abang and Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, which have extinguished the current action by the applicant.
“It is in the interest of Justice and our jurisprudence that I do not dabble into the case by granting any orders for the arrest or extradition of the respondent.
“Therefore, to accede to the applicant’s request would be against the legal concept of judicial precedence and res judicata.
“This suit is, hereby, dismissed, with no orders made as to cost against the applicant,’’ he said.
Mr. Mohammed Hassan, Counsel to the Federal Government, had prayed the court to issue a bench warrant against Kashamu’s extradition.
But Kashamu’s counsel, Dr Alex Izinyon SAN, in his submission, urged the court to strike out the matter arguing that the orders made by Buba and Abang 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 as filed by the prosecution.
Hassan, however, urged the court to discountenance the submissions of the defence counsel, saying the Federal High Court in Lagos had no supervisory jurisdiction over Federal High Court in Abuja.
He said that at the time the orders were made in Lagos, extradition process had not been initiated.
Nigeria had initiated moves to arrest and extradite the senator from Ogun State following a request by the United State government.
According to the U.S charges, Kashamu allegedly conspired with others to intentionally import into the United States quantities of mixtures containing heroin, between 1992 and 1995.
The offence was said to contravene Section 952(a) of Title 21, United States Code, and punishable under Section 960 of the same law.
The penalty for the offence on conviction under the law according to the charge is an imprisonment of not more than 10 years or a fine of up to $10 million in the case of an individual, or both.
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