The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on Thursday, dropped a hint on the possible extradition of Simon Ekpa, a dual Finnish-Nigerian citizen and former Lahti City councillor,
for prosecution over alleged terrorism offences in Nigeria.
Prince Fagbemi disclosed this at a special engagement session organised to update Nigerians and stakeholders on measures and achievements of the Federal Ministry of Justice and its agencies in the area of advancing the administration of criminal justice, from October 2024 to date.
In his response to a question on the issue of Ekpa, the AGF explained that the man is presently being investigated in Finland over suspected terrorist acts.
The Justice Minister stressed that once his issue with the Finnish government is determined, the process of his extradition from Finland to Nigeria will begin.
Specifically, the AGF said Nigeria is also working with the Finnish authorities for Ekpa’s possible extradition to face prosecution for offences committed against Nigeria’s national security and sovereignty.
“He committed an offence against the Finnish government as well as in Nigeria. His extradition will come at the right time”, the AGF stated.
Recall that Ekpa was arrested in November 2024, along with four other individuals, who were later let off the hook.
However, Finnish authorities have now referred his matter to the Deputy Prosecutor General, who is expected to decide whether formal charges are to be pressed against him in Finland.
Similarly, Fagbemi stated that the Justice Ministry had successfully extradited two fugitives, Hassan Bun Hussein Abolore Lawal in January 2025 and Okechukwu Josiah Odunna in March, 2025, to the United States of America.
He added the ministry is cooperating with the Qatari authorities for the extradition of one Benjamin Nnanyereugo a.k.a Killaboi from Qatar back to Nigeria in April, 2025, to face murder charges for the unlawful killing of his girlfriend, Augusta.
Meanwhile, the AGF has reaffirmed his ministry’s commitment to upholding the rule of law, ensuring equitable access to justice, and building a justice system that is fair, transparent, and responsive to the needs of all citizens.
Prince Fagbemi insisted the office of AGF and Justice Ministry are determined to foster a justice sector that inspires confidence and delivers on its mandate to serve the people.
“We shall remain steadfast in our dedication to fostering a justice system that is fair, efficient, and upholds the highest standards of integrity by safeguarding the rights of all and promoting equitable and speedy access to justice.
“To sustain the foregoing objectives, we will continue to refine our procedures, invest in capacity building and inter-agency collaboration with key justice sector stakeholders, in line with the National Policy on Justice (2024 – 2028), which provides the framework for improving access to justice, judicial independence, and efficiency”, Fagbemi stated.
The AGF took time to reel out some of the achievements of his ministry for the period under review, while pledging to address challenges militating against the full implementation of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, and other similar legislations essential for promoting access to criminal justice for all Nigerians.
Fagbemi stated the ministry and its agencies whose mandates involve access to criminal justice both for the victim, the accused, and ultimately, the state, have worked to improve prosecution of offences in the country.
“These achievements came about as a result of extant policies and actions targeted at improving the capacity of our prosecutors, increasing synergy amongst prosecuting agencies, developing appropriate policy framework in collaboration with office of the NSA and other law enforcement or security agencies”, the AGF said.
More so, he said the ministry’s capacity development efforts were conducted in key areas of general investigation and prosecution strategy, cyber security, forensic analysis and electronic evidence, financial investigation and prosecution, energy related offences, piracy and other maritime offences, including sexual and gender based violence.
The review period, the AGF stated, also witnessed effective conduct of 237 terrorism cases from 9th – 13th December 2024, out of which 226 terrorism suspects were successfully prosecuted and convicted.
Apart from feats in the area of protection for women, children and vulnerable persons, the Justice Minister said they have continued to foster collaboration and cooperation with the international community in order to ensure that there is no safe haven for criminals.
According to the AGF, the ministry among other achievements, also recorded gains in asset recovery and management.
“Of significance is the gazetting of the Proceeds of Crime Regulations, 2024 to provide a standardised automated asset forfeiture management system as well as the development of the National Database on Asset Recovery and Management to ensure transparency in the asset recovery and management process.
“On our assets recovery efforts, I am pleased to inform that Nigeria executed an Asset Sharing Agreement with the United States of America on 10th January 2025, which led to the repatriation of the Galactica Assets in the sum of fifty-two million, eight hundred and eighty-two thousand, eighteen United States Dollars and ninety-five cents ($52,882,018.95) from the USA.
“Out of the recovered sum, US$50 million would be deployed to funding the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale- Up (DARES) project which is an initiative of the Federal Government to provide electricity access to 17.5 million Nigerians, while the remaining sum of US$2.88 million will be deployed to counter-terrorism capacity building for Criminal Justice Sector practitioners”, the AGF assured.
