Attorney-General Abubakar Malami has prayed the Federal High Court to grant approval for immediate extradition of police chief Abba Kyari to the United States.

Mr Kyari was indicted by the FBI last year on allegations of conniving with international fraudster Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas to defraud a Qatari businessman of millions of dollars. Hushpuppi was extradited to the U.S. from Dubai in 2020.

Mr 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.