Nigeria’s Federal Government has approved the request by the United States of America, for the extradition of the suspended Commander of the Police Intelligence Response Team, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari.
Kyari is wanted in the United States over his involvement in the $1.1million wire fraud perpetrated by Abass Ramon, aka Hushpuppi, and 4 others.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), applied for Kyari’s extradition before the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday.
The application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022 was filed under the Extradition Act.
The AGF said the application followed a request by the Diplomatic Representative of the U.S. Embassy in Abuja.
The request is “for the surrender of Abba Alhaji Kyari, who is a subject in a superseding three counts indictment”
Malami said he was satisfied that the offense in respect of which Kyari is wanted is not political nor is it trivial or meant to punish him.
He said Kyari, “if surrendered, will not be prejudiced at his trial and will not be punished, detained or restricted in his personal liberty, because of his race, nationality or political opinions”.
The AGF maintained that there was no criminal proceeding pending against Kyari in Nigeria for the same offense.
Kyari is wanted to stand trial in the United States for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft.