Supreme Court Smashes Former Mint Boss Okoyomon’s 10-Year Fight Against UK Extradition; Okays Immediate Transit for High-Stakes Banknote Bribery Trial

The decade-long legal resistance mounted by the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), Emmanuel Ehidiamhen Okoyomon, has come to a definitive end after the Supreme Court of Nigeria dismissed his final appeal and greenlit his immediate extradition to the United Kingdom to face trial for multi-million euro bribery and money laundering.

The historic, unyielding verdict was delivered on Thursday, June 4, 2026, by a panel of apex court justices in Abuja. The ruling effectively concludes an exhaustive cross-border legal drama that has locked down administrative and judicial portals since 2014, when the British High Commission first filed a formal request for Okoyomon’s surrender following a comprehensive international anti-corruption audit.

Okoyomon’s legal troubles stem from a massive, highly sophisticated bribery matrix that unraveled between 2006 and 2008. According to the indictment files prepared by foreign prosecutors, the former Mint boss allegedly pocketed substantial illicit payments from Peter Chapman, a former sales director at the Australian technology firm Securency International Pty. The bribes were systematically funneled to manipulate decision-making protocols within the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NSPMC, successfully securing lucrative polymer banknote printing contracts valued at approximately €30 million. While Chapman was prosecuted and jailed for two and a half years by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2016, Okoyomon utilized a complex sequence of local judicial appeals to delay his transit.

Appearing before the apex court, Okoyomon’s defense team attempted to execute a familiar procedural manual, arguing that the Federal High Court lacked the statutory jurisdiction to order his extradition. The defense maintained that the 1931 Extradition Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom—which was extended to Nigeria as a British colony in 1935, had become obsolete and could not be recognized as an active law under the current constitutional layout.

However, unzipping the final judgment, the Supreme Court completely dismantled the appellant’s defense shield. The apex court affirmed the initial 2015 ruling by late Federal High Court Judge, Justice Evoh Chukwu, declaring that the historical treaty remains a valid, fully transits-active existing law under Section 315 of the 1999 Constitution. The justices ruled that Nigeria is bound by its international legal frameworks and cannot function as a safe haven for individuals fleeing accountability for corporate graft.

“The arguments of the appellant lack merit and represent a deliberate attempt to frustrate the course of international justice,” the Supreme Court panel declared in its leading judgment. “The legal procedures followed by the Attorney-General of the Federation were entirely flawless. Having thoroughly analyzed the data footprint, international treaties, and the dual-citizenship status of the appellant, this court hereby affirms the extradition order. The state is directed to surrender the appellant to the designated British authorities within the stipulated statutory timeline.”

The apex court’s ultimate order hits Okoyomon at a moment of absolute financial vulnerability. Only recently, the UK’s Serious Fraud Office successfully finalized a proceeds-of-crime tracking script, freezing and confiscating the remaining £36,000 discovered inside Okoyomon’s foreign bank accounts.

With the ultimate legal portal now permanently locked by the Supreme Court, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been cleared to execute the final technical transfer. Security experts note that Okoyomon’s impending transit to London sends a harsh, unyielding warning to public administrators across the country, proving that even the most complex legal delays cannot permanently shield corrupt officials from facing the full weight of global justice.