The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, deferred hearing on the application seeking to extradite the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Abba Kyari to the United States of America, USA, to face trial over his alleged involvement with a notorious internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, till April 27.

Kyari is wanted in the U.S. to stand trial for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft.

A grand jury had on April 29, 2021, filed an indictment against him with the approval of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, after which a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The application for his extradition was brought before the court by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.

Malami said the extradition application was based on a request by the Diplomatic Representative of the U.S. Embassy in Abuja for Kyari to be surrendered for trial.

The AGF, in an affidavit that was filed in support of the extradition application, said he was satisfied that the offence in respect of which Kyari’s surrender was sought, is not political or trivial.

He said he was also satisfied that the request for Kyari to be surrendered, was not made to persecute or punish him on account of his race, religion, nationality or political opinions, but in good faith and the interest of justice.

According to him, Kyari, “if surrendered, will not be prejudiced at his trial and will not be punished, detained or restricted in his personal liberty, by reason of his race, nationality or political opinions”, adding that having regard to all the circumstances in which the alleged offence was committed, it would not be unjust or oppressive, or severe a punishment, to surrender him.

Malami, noted that there was no criminal proceeding pending against Kyari in Nigeria, bordering on the same offence for which he is wanted in the USA.

Meanwhile, when the matter was called up on Wednesday, Kyari’s lawyer, Nureni Jimoh, SAN, told the court that his client was yet to be served with any of the processes the AGF filed against him.

Nureni said there was no way his client would have been able to respond to the extradition request, since he was not served.

Responding, counsel to the AGF, Pius Akutah, admitted that the Respondent was yet to be served with processes in the application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022.

He said the inability of the office of the AGF to serve the Respondent was due to the drug trafficking charge the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, also entered against Kyari, before the court.

Akutah, argued that he has 14 days within which he could still effect the service in accordance with the law.

While adjourning the case, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the Applicant (AGF) to ensure that DCP Kyari was served before the next date.

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared N590.546 billion as February allocations among the Federal Government, states and local councils.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a virtual meeting of the committee for March released yesterday in Abuja.

The sum comprises distributable statutory revenue of N337.432 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N165.635 billion, excess bank charges of N7.479 billion and non-mineral revenue of N80 billion.

In February this year, the total deductions for cost of collection were N 23.989 billion and the total deductions for statutory transfers and refunds were N80.498 billion.

The balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) was $35.371million.

The document confirmed that from the total distributable revenue of N590.546 billion, the Federal Government received N236.177 billion, state governments got N190.007 billion and local councils went home with N140.612 billion. A total of N23.750 billion was shared to the oil-bearing states as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In the month under review, the gross revenue available from VAT was N177.873 billion. It was N13.349 billion lower than the N191.222 billion generated in January.

The sum of N5.123 billion allocation to the North East Development Commission (NEDC) and N7.115 billion collection were deducted from the N177.873 billion VAT revenue, resulting in the distributable sum of N165.635 billion.

From the N165.635 billion distributable VAT revenue, the Federal Government received N24.845 billion, states got N82.818 billion, while the local councils took hold of N57.972 billion.

The Federal Government got N3.940 billion from the total excess bank charges of N7.479 billion. The states received N1.998 billion, and the councils went home with N1.541.

Also, the Federal Government received N42.144 billion, the states got N21.376 billion and the local councils were credited with N16.480 billion from the N80 billion non-mineral revenue.

The communiqué observed that for the period, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) increased significantly, while oil and gas royalties increased marginally. Import and excise duties, Companies Income Tax (CIT) and VAT decreased considerably.

House of Representatives, yesterday, began probe into the recent nationwide power outage, directing the Ministry of Power to take measures that would immediately address the challenge.

Chairman, House Committee on Power, Magaji Da’u Aliyu, lamented the nonchalant attitude of the ministry whenever there is a national emergency.

Minister for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, had appeared before the lawmakers to shed light on the blackout.

Aliyu enumerated challenges facing the sector, including low gas supply, low hydro levels, high cost of gas, as well as disequilibrium between power generation, transmission and distribution.

The minister, who was represented by Permanent Secretary Nebolisa Anoka, said all measures were being put in place to fix the problem.

Reacting, however, the committee chairman said: “There is nothing to show in this presentation that you are trying to resolve the problems; it is mere speech and thesis.”

The chairman had earlier explained that the interactive session was necessitated by the fact that Nigerians were facing the worst energy crisis in recent times.

The committee directed the minister to return on Friday with more practical evidence of planned interventions.

Meanwhile, Senate has indicated it will debate the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abia State, which nullified the controversial Section 84 (12) of the amended Electoral Act.

This was sequel to a point of order raised by Senator George Thompson Sekibo (PDP, Rivers), who drew the attention of his colleagues to the court verdict.

The section requires ministers, head of agencies and other political appointees to resign before participating in primaries, conventions and other electoral activities.

However, the Federal High Court sitting in Umuahia, on Friday, nullified the section, saying it was a violation of provisions of the Constitution.

The judge specifically asked the attorney general to delete the said section.

Sekibo, while invoking Senate Order 10 and 11, said the electoral law emanated from the National Assembly. Therefore, the parliament should be joined as a party in the suit.

He, therefore, moved that the issue be discussed during plenary today to avoid setting a bad precedent on laws enacted by the federal parliament.

In another development, the House said the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries owe the Federal Government N3 trillion in crude oil sales and taxes, since 2021.

This was disclosed by the House committee on recovery of debts owed by oil and gas companies, chaired by Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

Consequently, the committee summoned NNPC, Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance and other agencies, with a view to getting information on recovery of the funds.