Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, has dissociated himself from a human rights case said to have been filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja on his behalf by a lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, to stop his extradition to the United States.
The US Justice Department, Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia had alleged that Mr Onyema and the company’s chief of administration and finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, illegally moved more than $20 million through American bank accounts using false documents to procure airplanes.
In a six-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit, the Abuja-based lawyer claimed to have come from Anambra with Onyema and that he had known him as a reputable businessman in the aviation sector over the years.
However, in a statement on Wednesday by Onyema’s lawyer, A.O Alegeh, the businessman washed his hands off the suit.
“We hereby state on behalf of our client, that at no time did he instruct the said Mr. Johnmary C. Jideobi to institute any action on his behalf in respect of the subject matter of the Indictment now pending against him in the United States of America,” the statement said.
“Our client has no knowledge of the said action and did not consent to the filing of same. As a matter of fact, our client does not know the said Mr Johnmary C. Jideobi.”
