The wish of the Federal Government to extradite Lawal Babafemi better known as Abdullahi Ayatollah Mustapha received legal backing on Wednesday, as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja endorse its extradition request.
The United States earlier requested Lawal’s extradition from Nigeria to answer charges of terrorism against him, following his indictment for conspiracy to provide support to a foreign terrorist organisation, in violation of Title 18 of the United States code.
Ruling, Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the order after the suspect confirmed his unwillingness to contest his extradition to the US.
Justice Mohammed observed that as the application was not contested by the suspect, the appropriate thing for the court to do was to grant the request and application of the attorney general of the federation. He then ordered the extradition of the accused to the US to face the indictment against him.
In line with the Extradition Act 2004, he laid down a 15-day ultimatum within which Lawal, who is to remain in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS), must be extradited.
On 26th July 2013, the United States of America had formally requested Nigeria to extradite Lawal Babafemi (aka Abdullahi Ayatollah Mustapha) to the US, to face charges of providing support to terrorist organisations working against the United States of America.
