The Nigerian justice minister has been asked to explain the "abduction" of a businessman to the United States at the request of the US drugs agency, reports said Tuesday.
The lawyer of Lanre Shittu, a prominent car dealer, on Monday told the Federal High Court in Abuja to summon Bola Ige to explain why the government allowed the US agents to illegally abduct Shittu at the weekend, This Day newspaper said.
Shittu's lawyer, Mike Okoye, said that the conduct of the Nigerian government, the US government and the Nigerian anti-drug agency in the said abduction was "highly outrageous and reprehensible."
The court adjourned the case till Friday for hearing, the report said.
Shittu is to be charged, along with three other Nigerians already in the United States, on eight counts of laundering drugs money and fraud, Okoye said.
A hearing is due to take place in the District Court of New Jersey on Friday, he said.
The lawyer said the "abduction", which he said was carried out by US drugs agents working with their Nigerian counterparts at the weekend, was a violation of Nigerian law.
An extradition hearing was still pending in the Federal High Court, Abuja, he said.
US officials told AFP earlier this year they were seeking the extradition of a large number of Nigerians, some of them in high-ranking positions, on drugs-related charges -- LAGOS (AFP)
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