On July 30, Femi Fani-Kayode, a former minister of aviation, claimed the United States requested for the extradition of Allen Onyema, the chief executive officer of Air Peace, on alleged fraud charges “but Nigeria stood by him”.

In 2019, Onyema was indicted by the United States Department of Justice for fraud and money laundering.

The airline boss was accused of moving more than $20 million from Nigeria through US bank accounts in a scheme involving “false documents” based on the purchase of aeroplanes.

Onyema, however, denied the allegation, describing it as unfounded and strange.

Amid the Abba Kyari saga, Fani-Kayode tweeted: “When my friend Allen Onyema, the Chairman of Air Peace, was indicted by the FBI and the Americans demanded he be extradited we stood by him. Onyema was later vindicated. Why can’t we do the same for Abba? Is it wrong for us to ask them to show us evidence of his crime first?”

When my friend Allen Onyema, the Chairman of Air Peace, was indicted by the FBI and the Americans demanded he be extradicted we stood by him. Onyema was later vindicated. Why can't we do the same for Abba? Is it wrong for us to ask them to show us evidence of his crime first? pic.twitter.com/lnDcVyzTwp

— Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) July 30, 2021

He has been defending Kyari, even saying he did not believe he took any bribe from Abbas Ramon aka Huspuppi, the self-confessed scam artist who is currently facing a potential 20-year jail term after admitting charges of money laundering.

HOW TRUE IS FANI-KAYODE’S CLAIM?

Checks by TheCable showed that the US never requested the extradition of Onyema.

Extradition is a legal process by which one country may seek from another the surrender of a person who is wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence following a conviction for a criminal offence.

It usually requires a treaty between two countries. It specifies extraditable offences and instances when extradition is to be denied.

According to the United States Justice Department, only prosecuting authorities may initiate an extradition request, usually “after charges are filed and a court has issued a warrant of arrest for the person”.

On November 19, 2019, the US issued a warrant to arrest Onyema for alleged money laundering and bank fraud.

The warrant, signed by Justin Anand, a US magistrate in the district court of the northern district of Georgia, authorised U.S. Marshals Service to take Onyema into custody.

The warrant means Onyema will be arrested if he steps into the US.

The arrest warrant issued by the US court can only be executed in Nigeria if Onyema surrenders himself voluntarily or if INTERPOL issues a “red alert”. Even then, a judicial process will have be followed before he can be extradited.

You can read more about red notices and extradition Here.

VERDICT: The claim made by Fani-Kayode that the US demanded the extradition of Onyema is misleading. Such a request was not made.

VERDICT: The claim made by Fani-Kayode that the US demanded the extradition of Onyema is misleading. Such a request was not made

KwaraRat:
When the US begins an extradition process then know they have all the evidence to try and convict someone.

The US is keeping more serious allegations against Kyari to their chest now and I know they will be releasing it bit by bit to embarrass the Nigerian Govt and Police to the point they have no choice but to hand Kyari over to them.

The US does not extradite on flimsy cases. The last individual who was extradited from NIgeria to the US in relation to Terrorism charges is sitting in a US Federal Super Max Cell at ADX, Florence and he is serving 22yrs only because he pleaded guilty.

Kyari is seeing serious hard time as the FBI will have enough evidence to convict Kyari for tipping off Fraudsters under the FBI and NPFJoint collaboration. The most annoying aspect here, is that the tech supplied to Kyari's office by the FBI which is used to monitor and track phone communications and locations was deployed secondarily to SARS and the IRT but was meant for the Police Fraud Branch at Alagbon and the EFFC.

Kyari abused his privileges and access to the tech to extort fraudsters even though both the SARS and reformed IRT office were not set up for that. Also, Kyari being a senior officer with close access to the top echelons of the force would have gotten information regarding certain fraud suspects sent by the FBI to the IGP's office and would have used that information to tip those fraudsters who were regularly paying him of an FBI crackdown.

The case against Kyari is huge. Obstruction to justice and interference of an ongoing criminal investigation, bribery, extortion and being part of several Fraud syndicates.

This guy is going down. There is no way Mr Integrity will survive his already demystified hypocritical pious personae by refusing to hand over Kyari for extradition.

Kyari is going to do serious, hard time and I don't in any way pity him.

They don't fancy pigs behind bars and being that he isn't even a US cop , I see no way the COs will give him a pass. He will have to PC up or join the Nation of Islam and stomach their star wars version of Islam.

mu2sa2:
The way ipob miscreants are masturbating over Abba Kyari, you would think every igbo is a saint.

Monogamy:


Beautiful gibberish..

Kyari can only face prosecution by NPF not FBI.. This is a bribery case not fraud or terrorism case.

Asgard73:
They were screaming we hid and supported Oyeama.. like say the did anyone favor..

Fani-Kayode a typical Yoruba man ... they love taking advantage of situations to shalaye

Even the Oyeama igbos no send am.. he’s on his own..
Infact both Oyeama and kyari should be extradited.. weda US want him or not.

Careless and shameless