Abba Kyari, the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police could be on his way to the United States to face trial as the Federal Government on Thursday approved the request by the country for him to be extradited over the $1.1million wire fraud perpetrated by Abass Ramon aka Hushpuppi and four others
The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami approved the request when he prayed the Federal High Court to grant approval for Kyari’s immediate extradition to the United States.
Mr Kyari was indicted by the FBI last year on allegations of conniving with Abbas to defraud a Qatari businessman of millions of dollars.
Abbas was extradited to the U.S. from Dubai in 2020.
Kyari initially denied the charges, but he was subsequently suspended by the police and a police probe panel confirmed his guilt.
As the case was underway, Mr Kyari was separately indicted by Nigeria’s anti-narcotics office NDLEA for stealing bags of cocaine. He has been in the custody of the NDLEA for more than two weeks and is expected to be there until trial.
Mr Malami said Mr Kyari should be extradited to face trial in the U.S. because his case there was solid and not politically or religiously motivated.
In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022 and filed directly with the Chief Judge of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court and first reported by Vanguard, the attorney-general said it was the U.S. Embassy in Abuja that submitted the request for Mr Kyari to be handed over for onward transfer to the FBI.
It was not immediately clear if dates have been assigned for hearing on the request or how soon it would be granted