Extradition of former Mint chief Okoyomon to the UK ordered by S’Court over alleged bribery.

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

The Supreme Court approved the extradition of Emmanuel Okoyomon, former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPM), to the United Kingdom to face bribery charges.

A five‑member panel of the apex court, in a unanimous decision, dismissed Okoyomon’s appeal to set aside the June 6 2016 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which had authorized the Federal Government to extradite him to the UK for trial.

The appellate court found no basis to overturn the Federal High Court’s May 4 2015 order that granted the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) permission to extradite Okoyomon.

Led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the Supreme Court held that the appeal, marked SC/456/2016, was without merit. In the lead judgment, prepared by Justice Emmanuel Agim and read by Justice Mohammed Idris, the court noted that Okoyomon had failed to establish a case that warranted interference with the findings of the two lower courts. The appeal was dismissed, though the panel did not award costs against the appellant.

The AGF had sought Okoyomon’s extradition to the UK, where he faces accusations of complicity in a bribery scheme involving officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NSPM, and Securency International Pty of Australia.

After the application was granted, Okoyomon brought the case before the appellate court, alleging a breach of his right to a fair hearing. Justice Moore Adumein, delivering the lead judgment, addressed three of the four issues raised by the appellant.

Justice Adumein held that, contrary to Okoyomon’s claim, Nigeria is obligated under the London Scheme for Extradition within the Commonwealth to extradite a person sought for an extradition offence to another Commonwealth country. He stated, “This provision is substantially supported by the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of the Extradition Act 2004. The lower court was right to have acted the way it did, so as to avoid a situation whereby Nigeria could breach its obligations to a fellow Commonwealth country, the UK.”

He added, “The provisions of the London Scheme for Extradition within the Commonwealth have been substantially enacted into law in Nigeria.”

Justice Adumein further noted, “The learned trial judge, in my humble view, rightly held that the respondent (AGF) made out a case to justify why the extradition application should be granted, while the appellant failed, by his defence, to convince the court why the application should be refused.”

Regarding the third issue, he said, “The resolution of issue number three in favour of the appellant would not affect the final outcome of this appeal. This is so because the appellant has not shown how the failure to hear him on the point raised suo motu by the trial judge—on whether or not he is a British citizen—occasioned any miscarriage of justice.”

He concluded, “The law is that to warrant an appellate court’s reversal of a lower court’s decision, the appellant must show that the failure to hear him on the point raised and resolved suo motu occasioned a miscarriage of justice. In this case, whether or not the appellant is a British citizen did not affect the merit of the application for an order for his extradition, which the trial court rightly found to be meritorious based on the facts supplied by the applicant (respondent in the appeal). Since the threshold issues in this appeal have been resolved against the appellant, this appeal ought to be dismissed. Accordingly, this appeal is hereby dismissed.”

Unsatisfied with the judgment, the appellant filed the appeal that the Supreme Court dismissed on Friday.

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