Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Senator Buruji Kashamu got a breather yesterday as a Federal High Court in Abuja declined to hear an extradition application brought against him by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in a ruling yesterday, said he could not proceed to hear the application because of two subsisting decisions of Justices Ibrahim Buba and Okon Abang of the court’s Lagos division.
Justices Buba and Abang nullified the extradition application filed during the pendency of an order prohibiting any move to arrest or extradite Kashamu.
Justice Kolawole said he could not exercise jurisdiction over the extradition application when the June 8 decision by Justice Abang, nullifying the extradition application and the subsequent June 23 decision by Justice Buba, affirming Justice Abang’s decision were still pending and yet to be set aside by any appellate court.
Kashamu, upon claim that there were plots by some individuals to abduct him and transfer him to the United States (U.S.) over his alleged involvement in illicit drugs deals, sued at the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court.
He sought, among others, orders restraining security agencies from arresting or taking any steps to extradite him.
While the case was pending, the former AGF, Mohhammed Adoke (SAN), claiming to have received an extradition request from the U.S. authorities, filed the extradition application in the court’s Abuja division.
During proceedings in the case filed in Lagos, Justice Abang on June 8, nullified the extradition application, which had then been assigned to Justice Kolawole, on the ground that it was initiated in contravention of an earlier order made by the court in 2013.
In a separate proceeding on June 23, Justice Buba , in a ruling, affirmed Abang’s orders nullifying the extradition application pending before Justice Kolawole.
In his ruling yesterday, Justice Kolawole expressed discomfort over the decisions by his brother judges in Lagos, wondering whether the judges of courts of coordinate jurisdiction could validly nullify the proceedings before another judge of the same jurisdiction.
“They (the orders made in Lagos) are, no doubt by my assessment, very wide, perhaps wild orders, with the greatest respect to their lordships, and they are seemingly audacious if not breath-taking,” the judge said.
Justice Kolawole said the orders barring any move by the AGF to initiate extradition proceedings against Kashamu in relation to the indictment by the U.S. remained valid as long as they had not been set aside by any appellate court.
“The applicant has not produced any material before me to show that these orders have been appealed against and or have been set aside by the appellate courts.
“The said orders were not made against my court, but against the applicant and until they are set aside or reversed by the appellate courts, this court will be acting unconstitutionally to aid the applicant to persevere in its act of contempt to the said orders.
“The constitutional duty and obligation this court has and must exercise is to ensure that the process of this court is not abused and the sanctity of its extant orders, regardless of whatever issues, are preserved and protected.
“Based on these orders, this court will be acting perhaps unconstitutionally in aiding the applicant to flout and disobey extant orders of court of competent jurisdiction by appending my signature to the arrest warrant, which the applicant has prepared and applied for on the proceedings of June 25.
“In concluding, I am unable to exercise jurisdiction in accordance with sections 6, 7 and 8 of the Extradition Act to accede to the application for warrant to effect the arrest of the respondent because the orders of Abang and Buba J (Justices) of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos Judicial division have not been appealed against by the applicant or have they been set aside by any appellate court by the applicant or have they been set aside
“Secondly, the application dated May 27, 2015 and filed on May 28, 2015 by the applicant was filed in contravention of the orders made by Abang J, and in any case, this suit has been nullified by the certain orders made by Abang J on June 28, 2015.
“Based on the above analysis, having regard to the second orders made by Abang J, the extradition proceedings were initiated in violation of injunctive order granted by Abang J on May 27, 2015.
“The extradition proceedings were initiated in flagrant disobedience of an extant order of a court of competent jurisdiction. The suit is hereby dismissed.”
“The judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction remains valid and binding unless and until it is set aside by the lower court itself where it acted without jurisdiction.
“This is because to hold otherwise is to clothe the party against whom judgment is given with the discretion to decide in his wisdom that the judgment is invalid and not binding on him and this will amount to a state anarchy.
“The applicant cannot while remaining in contempt or violation of these orders proceed to Federal High Court in Abuja and institute the instant proceedings.
“I don’t have jurisdiction to ignore the said orders or treat it as if they are made in errors,” Justice Kolawole said.