The effort by the Federal Government to have Senator Buruji Kashamu extradited to the United State (US) to face trial over alleged drug dealing, on Thursday suffered set back as the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, reserved judgment on the matter.
The government had argued that a request from the US Government had demanded that it deliver Kashamu up for prosecution for his alleged role in an illicit drug deal in the foreign country.
However in 2015, Kashamu had secured two separate judgments by Justices Okon Abang and Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court preventing the Federal Government from delivering him to the US.
But the Federal Government had through the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) approached the appellant court with an appeal seeking the extradition of the senator representing Ogun East to the US.
It had urged the Court of Appeal to overturn the judgments of Justices Abang and Buba, so that the senator can be extradited.
During the Thursday proceedings, counsel for the AGF, Emeka Ngige (SAN), had told the appellate court that Kashamu concealed material facts before Justices Abang and Buba, where he obtained restraining orders against the Federal Government.
He further said that Kashamu’s suits, which were decided by Justices Abang and Buba, were based on mere hearsay, arguing that the two lower court judges miscarried justice.
According to Ngige, Justices Abang and Buba failed to evaluate the documentary evidence placed before them before giving their verdicts. He had therefore asked the three-man Appeal Court panel, presided over by Justice Joseph Ikhegh, to overturn the two judgments and give force to Kashamu’s extradition.
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His position was opposed by Kashamu’s lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who maintained that the decisions by the high court judges were in order and prayed the court to dismiss the Federal Government’s appeal.
But after the parties had argued and adopted their written addresses, the Appeal Court reserved judgment in the appeal pending a date that will be communicated to the parties.
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