ABUJA – The Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb Tagelsir Ali, said on Wednesday the extradition process of Aminu Ogwuche, the suspected mastermind of the Nyanya bomb blasts, would be completed soon.
Ali told newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday that both Sudan and Nigeria had similar standards guiding an extradition process.
Ogwuche was arrested in Sudan in May following the joint efforts of the Nigerian Army, Department of State Services, the National Bureau of Interpol based at the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters, and the Sudanese security operatives.
“There is an agreement between Sudan and Nigeria. It was supposed to be revisited in the last bilateral meeting that took place in Khartoum.
“The extradition treaties always got a sequence of procedures that has to be taken care of, about 17 or 18 procedures that have to be dealt with before a person can go back to his or her country.
“It is very important to wait until the procedures are finalised.
“I read some news here on the fact that Sudan was delaying the process.
“It’s not true definitely because I have been contacting Sudan every other day and I have been informed that everything is going on according to procedure and as soon as the procedures are finished the person will be handed over to Nigeria.
“There is nothing that holds that, only the satisfaction of the requirements of extradition.
“I cannot tell how soon or the specific date when we’ll see this happening but what I can say is that people are doing their best to finalise this as soon as possible.“
Ali acknowledged that the extradition process was delayed at the initial stage.
He, however, gave the assurance that the authorities involved in the process were working hard to ensure that the requirements for the repatriation of Ogwuche were fully met.
He also noted that both parties shared cooperation in the areas of security adding: “the head of security here in Nigeria is scheduled to visit the head of security in Sudan.
“Also, the Minister of Defence, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau, has received an invitation from the Minister of Defence in Sudan and this exchange of visits show that there are concerns about what is happening.”
He said that both countries shared similar experiences and expressed the willingness of the Sudanese Government to assist where necessary.
“One of the things, I think, is our experience in combating these things because I think the worst war that has ever raged in Africa was the South/North war which lingered for 50 years.
“How we managed to bring this to a close is a very important lesson to learn and we are more than happy to share our experiences.
“I think one of the things we should ask for is to learn from these experiences; they may not go in the same path but violence breeds violence and it leads to a win-lose situation. “How to take this to a win-win situation is for both parties to dialogue and seek common grounds, get to the root causes and let people rethink their strategies, sit down and dialogue within the African value setting.
“Other people may not solve Nigeria’s problem because they don’t feel it like the people do; they are only interested in their own interests.
“But Africans may be interested in Africa itself because whatever happens in Nigeria as a leading country in Africa is to affect the entire continent; any stability in Nigeria would lead to stability in other countries
“We are ready to provide some support,“ he added.
The envoy said that with the recent review of the bilateral commission, both countries were working toward strengthening the bilateral ties.
He said that trade relations between the two countries were “weak“ and that efforts were being made to strengthen them.
Ali noted that agreements in education, investment, military and political cooperation, tourism and culture among others were made and were followed up by both parties.
“What happens is border trade which is not controlled and we are trying to expedite this.
“We’ll have a consultative meeting with the both ministries of foreign affairs in August to address foreign policies of the two countries; we have got a number of state twinning programmes.
