Abba Kyari: HURIWA slams FG over selective extradition of southerners

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Wednesday, accused the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), of double standards in the extradition of fraud suspects.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement, accused the Federal Government of shielding suspended deputy commissioner of police, Abba Kyari, from extradition to the United States for a year since he was named by American investigators as an accomplice in the international fraud and money laundering scheme of an international scammer, Ramon Abbas, popularly called Hushpuppi.

The group said, however, the Nigerian government has extradited other Nigerians particularly those from the Southern region of the country who were similarly involved in alleged scams in the United States.

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HURIWA condemned FG’s alleged nepotistic and selective extradition of Southerners whilst Abba Kyari cools off in Nigeria despite that he has been declared wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States for over one year.

Recall that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission recently coordinated the extradition of a Yoruba man, Fatade Olamilekan, for alleged wire fraud of over $3.5million.

The EFCC got to work after the FBI declared Olamilekan wanted through the US Legal Attache.

In April 2022, the EFCC coordinated the extradition of a wire fraud suspect and a Yoruba man, Adedunmola Gbadegesin, to the United States over a $148,000 scam.

Also, in May, another Nigerian from the South-East geopolitical zone, Chibundu Anuebunwa, was extradited to the United States over his alleged involvement in a multi-million-dollar business email compromise scam.

“However, the Nigerian government has not extradited suspended head of the elite Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector-General Police, Abba Kyari, to the United States despite that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has declared him wanted for connivance with International scammer, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi,” HURIWA’s Onwubiko said.

The police had suspended Kyari last year and set up a probe but the recommendations of the panel have not seen the light of the day even after one year.