Many Nigerian fugitives holed up abroad may be forced home soon as the Federal Government seeks to extradite no fewer than 311 of them in a renewed offensive to bring them to justice. This should be pursued with vigour. The suspects are believed to be looters of the public treasury. There should be no safe haven for such people in today’s world. What is required to smoke them out of their hideouts is the right mix of diplomacy and political will.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who revealed this onslaught in a document containing the mid-term scorecard of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the legal sector, said that government would leverage the Mutual Legal Assistance agreements it signed with six countries to get the wanted suspects back to Nigeria. The United Kingdom, Switzerland, the United States of America, Italy, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates are the countries having such pacts with Nigeria. The agreement with France will be signed in 2019, going by the outcome of Buhari’s state visit there in September 2015.
Add Comment