NewStats: 3,261,189 , 8,173,346 topics. Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2025 at 01:56 PM 151867

ECOWAS Court rejects US prisoner’s request for transfer to Nigeria

The Nigerian had told ECOWAS Court he had already served eight years of the 12 years jail time imposed on him, and that he was due for release in May 2026.


The ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja has rejected a request to order the transfer of a Nigerian convicted of fraud in the United States to complete his jail time in Nigeria.

The court, in a judgement delivered on Thursday, said it lacked jurisdiction to grant Richard Ugbah’s request.

Mr Ughah had told the court he had already served eight years of the 12 years jail time imposed on him, and that he was due for release in May 2026, according to a statement by the court’s communication unit highlighting the key issues decided in Thursday’s judgement.

He approached West Africa’s regional court to order for his transfer to Nigeria, claiming to have satisfied the requirements for such a transfer.

But delivering judgement, a member of the court’s three-member , Sengu Koroma, the Judge Rapporteur of the , declared that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.


The court upheld the preliminary objection raised by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, sued as the first respondent, declaring the applicant’s claims as “unfounded and without legal basis”.

The judge also ruled that Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice sued as the second in the case, was not a proper party before it.

The court consequently dismissed all the prayers of the applicant.

The suit

The applicant, a Nigerian citizen and resident in the US, was convicted by the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin after he pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on 14 February 2017.

He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.

The ECOWAS Court’s statement said, he additionally, pleaded guilty to another count of conspiracy to commit fraud on 15 November 2017, and judgment was entered on 22 November 2017.

The applicant further told the ECOWAS Court that having served eight years of the sentence, he was due for release on 8 May 2026.

He urged the court to issue the orders for his transfer to Nigeria to complete his jail time, having, according to him, satisfied the necessary conditions in line with the provision of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Handbook on the International Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

He also maintained that the transfer of sentenced persons is considered to be an important means of cooperation to prevent and combat crimes.

He said crimes combatting and preventing crimes are the main purposes of the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotic Substances of 1998, the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.


The applicant further argued that all three conventions cited refer to the possibility of concluding agreements to facilitate the transfer of persons convicted abroad for the offences covered by the conventions to another state to complete their sentence.

Nigeria opposes suit
The Nigerian government sued as the first respondent in the suit opposed the suit. It filed a preliminary objection contending that the applicant’s initiating application was incompetent by virtue of Articles 9 and 10 of the Supplementary Protocol (A/SP./01/05).

It added that its Ministry of Justice sued as the second respondent, is neither a Community Institution nor a signatory to the Economic Community of the West African States Treaty to be competent to be sued before the court.

The government further claimed that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain this suit. It, therefore, urged the court to strike out the notice of registration for want of jurisdiction and lack of cause of action.

Decision
In its decision, the court struck out the second respondent’s name as a party in the suit, based on the agreement reached by both sides in the suit.

The court went on to rule that the applicant failed to show a valid reason for his complaint against the respondent.

Additionally, the court found that the matter of competence is a legal issue and the argument presented by the applicant had no legal basis vesting the court with the authority to hear and determine the case. As a result, it dismissed the claim and upheld the respondent’s preliminary objection.

The other judges on the were Justices Dupe Atoki (presiding) and Ricardo Claúdio Monteiro Gonçalves (member).

https://www.timesng.com/news/top-news/651511-ecowas-court-rejects-us-prisoners-request-for-transfer-to-nigeria.html

Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied. Check my signature for free stuffs!

Ok

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

Well said brother


NP - Motherland by Sound Sultan

Sharp guy, if he's transferred to finish his time in Nigeria then legally he wasn't deported from America and can easily get another visa to America

.

ECOWAS should allow them please, Nigeria itself is a prison at the moment....

Ok oo

Hmmmm

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

yinmu

Ok check out our signature

This man preferred to the ₦750 per day feeding team

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

What concern this man with the people you love to hate? Does his name sound Igbo to you? Why don't you find a work doing?

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

Your little mind convinces you that Richard Ugbah is Igbo thus your creating this thread to give vent to your standardize bigotry!

You have proven that many from your side struggle with identifying where others come from, once the name isn't Hausa or Fulani, it is automatically "omo ibo".

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

Shattap, you don see where dem lock dustbin?

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

You are a talkative . Jeez ..

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

Dude, you're the thug working for APC, looking for ways to relocate your own family to Canada, yet you're here condemning ur fellow criminal.

The difference btw you and this dude is... the society

One is operating in a sane society and you on the other hand are operating in an insane one.

greenie77:


Your little mind convinces you that Richard Ugbah is Igbo thus your creating this thread to give vent to your standardize bigotry!

You have proven that many from your side struggle with identifying where others come from, once the name isn't Hausa or Fulani, it is automatically "omo ibo".

The idiot is jobless. His office is on nairaland.


His daily profit is FTC on nairaland.

Abandoned property


Make us make am their citizen for jail

I thought I heard that to be in US prison is even better than to walk free in Nigeria. How would a prisoner in US even contemplate coming to Nigerian prison?
Abi na fear of an.al rape by those mean-looking prison mates?

bros don taya to dey "pick up d soap" inside US pen...


Well, no place like home sha!

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

He has a plan, he knows he can easily buy his way out considering the system in Nigeria. Moreover it was the same uncomfortable system that made him japa before deciding to practice what the politicians thought him back home in a sane society.

Lightmykpoli:
Sharp guy, if he's transferred to finish his time in Nigeria then legally he wasn't deported from America and can easily get another visa to America

His request have nothing to do with wanting to go back to the US. He is looking for a soft landing which he can find in Nigeria not 3 more tough years in an American prison, despite whatever childish nonsense you hear on NL about how American prison is better than banana island

Useless ecowas abi ecomog

FreeStuffsNG:
Hmmmm. Pride goeth before a fall.

So some of you can actually go as far as ECOWAS court, pay lawyers to beg the court on your behalf to make Nigeria, same Nigeria you hate,insult, and speak ill of, to take you back into a Nigerian jail. Smh.

When you are overseas , you become so full of yourself and you talk down on Nigeria and our Patriots who stay in Nigeria to build our fatherland, the land is 'listening' too, when you need its blessings and favour, it will deny you of it. One of those ECOWAS Judges who denied his plea is a Nigerian.

This is a lesson to most of you that one day, you will need Nigeria and Nigeria will reject you. You bless the land, it blesses you, you curse it, it curses you back.

This is a case of Japa-da denied.

Sense full your head. More grace.

Raxxye:
I thought I heard that to be in US prison is even better than to walk free in Nigeria. How would a prisoner in US even contemplate coming to Nigerian prison?
Abi na fear of an.al rape by those mean-looking prison mates?

he can easily bribe his way out of prison in Nigeria and will not complete his jail term. that’s why. Think