Mr James Tillery, an American who has naturalised in Nigeria, on Thursday challenged the legality of his aborted extradition by America’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) from Nigeria on August 13.

He told the Federal High Court, Lagos that the process was flawed as the FBI did not follow due process.
Tillery, who spoke through his counsel, Mr Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), said the U.S. Government did not show respect for Nigeria’s law in the planned extradition.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the naturalised Nigerian was arrested on Aug. 13 at his office in Victoria Island, Lagos and is being detained by the Police at Alagbon Close, Ikoyi.

The attempt to extradite Tillery to the U.S. was aborted by the Nigeria Immigration officials at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
He was alleged to have committed some sundry offences in the U.S. between 2003 and 2005.

Oyetibo said:“The arrest of Tillery by the Nigerian Police on the authority of a U.S. District Court and handing him over to the F.B.I is preposterous.
“The officials did not show respect for the laws of Nigeria … Nigeria is not a lawless nation. The due process should be followed in the process of extraditing him.”

He urged the court to protect the rights of the applicant and order his release with immediate effect from “illegal detention’’.

Hussaini Umar