Sudan Denies Nigeria Extradition Of Abuja Bomb Blast Suspect

The extradition of the mastermind of the April 14, 2014, bombings of Nyanya-Abuja Motor Park that claimed the lives of about 100 people, Aminu-Sadiq Ogwuche might take longer than expected.

Saturday Vanguard reports that the Sudanese government have refused to cooperate with the Nigerian officials in their effort to extradite the suspect.

It is claimed that Sudan’s refusal to extradite Ogwuche followed the alleged intervention of a powerful Nigerian in one of the traditional institutions in Nigeria. He was was said to have moved in to stop the extradition of Ogwuche using the instrumentality of his Alma Mata, African International University, in Sudan.

Apart from the intervention by a Nigerian, Sudan whose President, Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, has no bilateral agreement with any country in the world on extradition of criminals.

Reliable security sources in Abuja said that the Nigerian, who has used the Alma Mata on several occasions to recommend and secure admission for some willing Nigerians youths in Sudan, is believed to have used his influence to reach out to some old students of the university to frustrate the extradition of Ogwuche possibly to prevent Nigerian security from getting details from the suspect on some of the financiers of Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria.

According to the sources, a team of Nigerian officials including security agents who travelled to Sudan with the aim of effecting the extradition or bringing back Ogwuche were turned back on the claims by the Sudanese officials that there was no court order for the arrest of the suspect.

It was learnt that when the officials of the Nigerian security agencies arrived Khartoum, Sudan last week for the hand-over of Ogwuche by the Sudanese authorities, they were faced with conditions that were unknown to them particularly against the backdrop of the fact that Sudan was not a signatory to any convention on the extradition of criminals and terrorists.

Saturday Vanguard further gathered that the Sudanese authorities pointedly told the Nigerian security officials that they needed the Court papers particularly the charge sheet detailing the offences for which Ogwuche was being tried and declared wanted.

Ogwuche’s wife, who is based in Sudan is believed to be the interface between the Nigerian Emir and her husband’s lawyer that are battling to get the suspected terrorist out of the hook in Sudan.

The failure of the officials to bring Ogwuche back to the country was said to have informed the arraignment of Ogwuche (in absentia) along with some of his accomplices for terror related offences in an Abuja court last Tuesday.

Ogwuche was declared wanted by the Department of State Services, DSS, after linking him to the deadly blast in Nyanya which claimed over 75 lives.

The University of South Wales confirmed that he studied at the institution between 2007 and 2010, when it was known as the University of Glamorgan, but said he failed to complete his course.

WalesOnline, a Welsh news site, reported that Ogwuche was a member of the university’s debating society and wrote on an online professional profile that his goal was “to be a successful businessman.”