Abstract
International Law encourages cooperative process wherein a State surrenders an offender to another State to be prosecuted in conformity with the law for an offence committed within the jurisdiction of the requesting State through the instrumentality of the principles of extradition. Enabled by bilateral or multilateral pacts, extradition became imperative in view of the expansion of transnational criminal organizations, including but not limited to human and drug trafficking, counterfeiting, cybercrime and terrorism. In recent times, the media space was agog with the news of extradition process of many Nigerians including Bankole Ogunnovo, Nnandi Kanu, Sunday Adeyemo and Abba Kyari among other personalities. In view of this development, this paper examines the concept of extradition within the purview of international milieu. The key objective of the study was to appreciate the relevant Extradition Laws and Treaty obligations with a view to ascertaining the propriety or otherwise of the practice and procedures of extradition in Nigeria. This paper adopted doctrinal research approach with relevant statutes, case laws, textbooks, articles and the internet as the main sources of information and data collection for the study. The paper found that the existence of imbalance in the enforcement of bilateral treaty between Nigeria and some advanced States anchored on the politics of economic superiority negates the jurisprudential justification for extradition. The work recommended inter alia, that sovereign nations should be committed to reciprocal diplomatic relations on the basis of equality and binding legal framework.
Keywords: Extradition, Law, Politics, Diplomatic Relations, Nigeria.