Extradition from Nigeria: How the Procedure Works and What an Extradition Lawyer Does

If you or a relative has been arrested, served with court papers, or told that a foreign authority wants you returned, the first tasks are to identify the exact legal instrument, record the date and legal basis of the arrest, obtain the filed application and supporting documents, and get Nigerian counsel involved immediately. An INTERPOL Red Notice is not itself a final Nigerian surrender order. It may be relevant to locating or provisionally arresting someone, but the surrender decision still requires a lawful Nigerian process.

Which Nigerian laws and treaties govern the request?

The starting point is the Extradition Act, Cap. E25, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, read with the Extradition (Amendment) Act 2018 and the Federal High Court (Extradition Proceedings) Rules 2015. The 2018 amendment replaced references to magistrates in the core extradition provisions with a Judge of the Federal High Court and added safeguards, including a specific mistaken-identity rule. Constitution section 251(1)(i) and (3), and the Supreme Court in Attorney-General of the Federation v. Anuebunwa, confirm the Federal High Court’s exclusive jurisdiction.

The treaty route depends on the requesting state. Section 1 provides for application of the Act through a published order giving effect to an extradition agreement; section 2 provides a separate statutory route for Commonwealth countries. The Nigeria–South Africa treaty has domestic effect through its 2005 Ratification and Enforcement Act. In Attorney-General of the Federation v. Anuebunwa, the Supreme Court upheld the continuing domestic effect of the 1931 United States–Great Britain treaty in a request by the United States. Do not assume that a historic treaty covers another requesting state: verify the exact agreement, order and territorial scope.

Nigeria is not an EU Member State, so the European Arrest Warrant does not govern a Nigerian case. Nigeria is also not party to the European Convention on Extradition or the European Convention on Human Rights; an ECtHR application or Rule 39 request is not a remedy against Nigeria itself. A separate remedy may apply to proceedings in another state, but it is not part of the Nigerian process.

Who makes the request, and who decides?

The AGF is the federal executive authority at the request stage. Under section 6, the request is made in writing by a diplomatic representative or consular officer and is supported by a duly authenticated foreign arrest warrant or certificate of conviction. The AGF considers whether to initiate the Nigerian proceeding and applies to the Federal High Court. If more than one state seeks the same person, section 6 requires the AGF to decide priority by considering all circumstances, expressly including the relative seriousness of the offences, the dates of the requests, nationality and ordinary residence.

The court tests whether the legal and evidential conditions for surrender are met; it does not decide guilt on the foreign charge. After a judicial order, the AGF and responsible authorities carry out the surrender stage. The court order and physical handover are separate steps; neither follows merely from a request or INTERPOL alert.

How does the process move from a request to a hearing?

The file may include identity particulars, a foreign warrant or conviction record, the facts alleged, foreign law and penalty, the corresponding Nigerian offence, affidavits and authenticated documents. For a conviction request, check the judgment, sentence and unserved portion. A missing document is not automatically fatal; assess the defect under the applicable Act, treaty and Rules.

What happens after a provisional arrest?

A provisional warrant is an urgent holding measure, not a final surrender decision. Section 8 allows a Judge of the Federal High Court to issue it before the full AGF application arrives where the evidence justifies arrest. The person must be brought before the court as soon as practicable. The court may remand the person in custody or on bail. Under the general statutory rule, if the required AGF order under section 6 is not received within 30 days beginning with the day of arrest, release is required. A later request may still lead to a new arrest.

Do not apply the 30-day rule mechanically without checking the treaty. Article 10(4) of the Nigeria–South Africa Treaty says that a person provisionally arrested under that treaty may be discharged after 60 days from arrest if the executive authority has not received the formal extradition request and the supporting documents required by Article 8. That is a treaty-specific discharge provision, not a universal 60-day period. Section 8, by contrast, requires release if the required AGF order under section 6 has not been received within 30 days beginning with the day of arrest. The texts use different triggers and the treaty does not expressly say that its 60-day clause replaces the Act’s 30-day rule. Counsel should promptly raise both provisions and ask the Federal High Court to determine which applies; do not assume that the 60-day clause automatically extends the statutory release rule.

What does the Federal High Court examine at the hearing?

The hearing is not a trial of the foreign charge. The court checks whether the request can legally support surrender, whether the person is correctly identified, whether the offence qualifies, whether required material is filed and whether the Act or treaty bars surrender. Documentary standards depend on the applicable route; the requesting state’s evidence rules do not automatically control the Nigerian hearing.

Section 17 governs duly authenticated foreign documents. In Attorney-General of the Federation v. Anuebunwa, SC.CV/118/2021 (13 April 2022), the Supreme Court treated extradition as sui generis and held that section 84 of the Evidence Act on computer-generated evidence does not automatically displace the special extradition-document regime. This does not make every allegation conclusive: authentication, reliability and weight may still be contested.

Identity is critical. Section 9(6A), inserted in 2018, requires dismissal and discharge if mistaken identity is raised and the requesting side fails to rebut it satisfactorily. Anuebunwa confirms that assertion alone is not enough: the court weighs evidence. Compare names, aliases, date of birth, passports, national ID records, photographs and available biometrics, and document why the foreign file may identify someone else.

The court also checks whether the offence qualifies under the applicable instrument. For a Commonwealth request governed by section 20, the threshold is imprisonment for two years or more in both Nigeria and the requesting country. A treaty may define extraditable offences differently. This is a legal comparison, not a trial of guilt.

How long can a person be detained, and when is release possible?

There is no single maximum detention period for every Nigerian extradition case. The route, court orders, any appeal or habeas corpus proceeding, and the applicable treaty all matter. Three clocks are particularly important:

• Provisional arrest: section 8’s general 30-day period runs from the day of arrest. If the required AGF application/order is not received in time, the Act provides for release, subject to any applicable treaty rule.
• Minimum waiting period: section 3(h) and section 10 prevent surrender before expiry of 15 days beginning with the day of committal. If a writ of habeas corpus has been issued, surrender must also await the court’s decision on the return of that writ.
• Failure to remove after committal: section 12 provides an application-based discharge route if the person has not been surrendered and conveyed out of Nigeria within two months beginning with the day of committal—or, where a writ of habeas corpus has been issued, within two months beginning with the court’s decision on the return, whichever is later. The Federal High Court is the competent forum under Anuebunwa. The court may order discharge only on application and after reasonable notice to the AGF.

The two-month rule requires an application; release is not automatic. Check the committal date, any habeas corpus decision, notice to the AGF and whether removal occurred. Article 11(4) of the Nigeria–South Africa Treaty separately addresses failure to remove a person within 15 days of the agreed surrender date.

Bail is not guaranteed. Section 8 allows custody or bail while a provisional warrant is pending. Evidence may address residence, sureties, health, attendance history and concrete flight risk. After committal, the position differs from ordinary pre-trial bail; check the exact order and route.

Does Nigerian citizenship prevent extradition?

Section 6(c) says that, unless the applicable agreement provides otherwise, the AGF may refuse to apply for surrender of a Nigerian citizen. This is discretionary, not an absolute constitutional bar. The result depends on the requesting state, the applicable route and the facts. Disclose dual nationality accurately; a second passport does not itself decide the case. Check both section 6(c) and any nationality clause in the treaty.

Other issues can affect timing rather than produce an immediate discharge. Section 11 addresses postponement where the person is charged with an offence triable in Nigeria or is serving a Nigerian sentence, subject to applicable law. Other statutory bars, including political character, bad faith or discriminatory purpose, prior conviction or acquittal, and pending Nigerian proceedings for the same offence, must be assessed under section 3 and any governing treaty. This guide leaves the detailed refusal grounds and remedies to the separate refusal-and-appeal guide.

What happens if the judge orders surrender?

A surrender order is not an immediate handover. The Act provides a minimum 15-day waiting period after committal, and a pending habeas corpus writ must be decided first. An order may be appealed to the Court of Appeal and, where permitted, the Supreme Court. The filing period is separate from the 15-day waiting period, and counsel should not assume that an appeal automatically stays surrender. The grounds, appellate route and deadline must be checked urgently under the applicable rules; see the Nigeria refusal and appeal guide.

Does consent change the route, and what about specialty or transit?

Consent does not have the same effect under every route. Article 17 of the Nigeria–South Africa Treaty permits simplified surrender without further proceedings if the person consents, but only where that treaty governs. Before consenting, confirm the applicable instrument and legal effect with counsel.

Specialty limits post-surrender prosecution. Section 3(g) requires safeguards against detention or trial for a pre-surrender offence other than the extradition offence established by the facts on which surrender was granted, until the person has had a reasonable opportunity to return to Nigeria; Article 15 of the Nigeria–South Africa Treaty sets out a treaty-specific rule and exceptions. See the rule of specialty after extradition. Transit is different from surrender from Nigeria: section 16 addresses transit through Nigeria, and Article 18 of the Nigeria–South Africa Treaty allows it under treaty conditions. For an unscheduled aircraft landing, a transit request may be required within 96 hours.

What should the person and family prepare now?

• Record the arrest date and time, location, arresting authority, warrant or provisional order, and all court dates.
• Obtain the AGF application, foreign request, warrant or conviction certificate, affidavits, exhibits, foreign charging/judgment papers and Nigerian court orders.
• Gather identity records for comparison: passports, national ID details, birth record, name changes, aliases, photographs and reliable biometric records if available.
• Find any prior conviction, acquittal, pending Nigerian prosecution or sentence that may affect the case.
• Keep relevant medical or bail evidence and family contact details for court notices and counsel.
• Ask counsel to identify the exact treaty/order, calculate deadlines from their legal triggers, request missing papers and keep dated records of service and filing.

Hypothetical example: a person is arrested in Lagos on a provisional warrant while the formal request has not yet been filed. Counsel should not simply count 30 days and assume the answer is settled. Counsel must first identify the requesting state and applicable treaty, compare any treaty-specific provisional-arrest period with section 8, obtain the court record and track the AGF application. If the relevant statutory deadline expires without the required filing, counsel can ask the court to apply the release provision; release does not guarantee that a later, properly supported request cannot lead to a new arrest.

For the full sequence, see How Extradition Works: From Request to Final Decision. Separate guides explain provisional arrest and the legal effect of an INTERPOL Red Notice.

The site's team coordinates cross-border defence with local counsel. To discuss the documents and deadlines in a specific case, use the legal services page.