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The poor handling of Nnamdi Kanu trial will not allow Finland to send Simon Ekpa to be tried in Nigeria

By Emeka Ugwuonye

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The various statements by Nigerian officials suggesting that Simon Ekpa would be extradited to Nigeria shows either how dishonest or ignorant these officials are. They should have known that no country, especially an European country, would extradite a person to be tried in Nigeria. Indeed, Nigeria does not believe that Kenya would agree to extradite Nnamdi Kanu. That was why the Nigerian government chose to kidnap Kanu and rendition him to Nigeria instead of going through the normal extradition procedure in Kenya.

So, Finland has an impression that Nigeria is as close as possible to being a rogue state. Indeed, they are aware that what Nigeria would have preferred to do would be to come into Finland and kidnap Ekpa and rendition him to Nigeria as they did Kanu. So, from the very beginning of the argument, the Finnish courts will be viewing Nigeria just the way the police would view a delinquent teenager – with a great deal of suspicion and skepticism

With respect to the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the following facts will always stand against Nigeria in any extradition hearing in a foreign country:

1. Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail in April 2017. By August of 2017, Nigerian soldiers invaded his home, ransacked it, and killed many, and no questions were asked about it. No military commander was ever held accountable. That incident is not even being discussed by the Nigerian government.

2. In June 2021, the Nigerian government violated international law and committed an act of extraordinary rendition against Nnamdi Kanu by kidnapping him in the country of Kenya and taking him to Nigeria.

3. Since he was brought into Nigeria by rendition, the Nigerian Ministry of Justice has not been able to formulate clear charges and prosecute him. It has been one obstacle or the other, most of which were created by the government of Nigeria.

4. Since he was brought into Nigeria, he has remained untried and without bail under inhuman conditions.

5. They could not even remand him in prison. Instead, they held him in extraordinary detention at the DSS facilities.

6. Since he was brought into Nigeria, several courts have given conflicting judgments over preliminary issues in the case. The Nigerian Court of Appeal, at one point, quashed all the charges against him, ordering for him to be set free. Nigerian government disobeyed the judgment of the court of appeal and went on appeal. In fact, the Nigerian government cajoled the justices of the court of appeal to reverse themselves by granting a stay on the enforcement of their judgment.

7. The supreme court, in its judgment, admitted that the Nigerian government violated the rights of Nnamdi Kanu massively, but instead of granting him relief, the supreme court merely urged him to pursue claims for right violations. Where else would such claims be better situated if not at the supreme court, which has recognized the violation.

8. Various High Courts have granted judgment to Kanu on the basis that his rights were violated and damages were awarded. None of those judgments have been obeyed by the Nigerian government.

9. Nnamdi Kanu requested the trial judge to recuse herself from his case. The judge agreed and held that she had recused herself. But the Chief Judge ordered the judge to continue with the trial. So, at the moment, Nnamdi Kanu is being tried by a judge who is unwilling to try him. When the judge agreed to recuse herself, it meant she agreed that there was a genuine ground for her to be recused. In other words, she made an order recusing herself. How was that order reversed?

10. As of today, Nigeria is holding a criminal defendant in a capital offense and refusing to try him. Instead, the court is praying for a political solution to a case it is supposed to be trying.

With all the above factors, no country in this world will extradite Ekpa to Nigeria so that he would face similar ordeal as seen in the Nnamdi Kanu case. Nigerian officials, over the years, have shown themselves to be thoughtless, senseless, and harmful to the interest of Nigeria. Otherwise, they would have realized that the poor handling of the Nnamdi Kanu case would have consequences harmful to Nigerian reputation and image world over.  I am sure that when Ekpa appears in court in Finland for any extradition hearing, the factors listed above will be only a part of a long list of reasons not to extradite anybody to Nigeria.

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