Okoyomon
There is no respite yet for detained former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPM), Emmanuel Okoyomon as the Court of Appeal, Abuja has dismissed the appeal he filed against May 4, 2015 judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja granting the Federal Government’s request to extradite him to the United Kingdom (UK).
Okoyomon is to be extradited to face trial in the UK where he has been accused of complicity in the bribery allegation, involving officials of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN NSPM and Securency International Pty of Australia between 2006 and 2008. Okoyomon is currently being held at the Kuje prison in Abuja.
A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous judgment on June 6 this year, dismissed the appeal filed for Okoyomon by his lawyer, Alex Iziyon (SAN), and upheld the decision by the trial court, which confirmed the position argued by lawyer to the state, Pius Ukeyima Akutah.
The appellate court, which resolved three out of the four questions determined against him, held that, as against Okoyonmon’s contention, Nigeria has an obligation under the London Scheme for Extradition, within the Commonwealth, to extradite a person sought in respect of an extradition offence to another Commonwealth country.
“This provision is substantially supported by the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of the Extradition Act 2004. The lower court was right to have acted the way it did so as to avoid a situation whereby Nigeria could breach its obligations to threshold Commonwealth country, the UK.
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