The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed attempts to portray the extradition of murder and drug trafficking suspect Matthew Chukwuemeka Adebiyi to the United Kingdom as a tribal issue, insisting the matter is strictly about justice and criminal accountability.
The Force’s New Media Officer, Aliyu Giwa, made this known on Friday, April 17, in a post on X. He said official records show Adebiyi has mixed heritage, with an Igbo mother and a Yoruba father.
“Crime has no tribe, justice has no ethnicity. Following Matthew Chukwuemeka Adebiyi’s extradition to the UK, his international passport and official records confirm that his mother is Igbo and his father is Yoruba.
“Portraying murder and drug trafficking charges as tribal issues is both inaccurate and potentially harmful,” Giwa wrote.
He maintained that neither the killing nor the extradition process had any ethnic undertone.
“Matthew did not flee the UK because of his ethnicity. Joshua Boadu’s murder was not motivated by ethnic factors. The Nigeria Police Force did not facilitate this extradition on the basis of ethnicity. Justice has been served.
“Tribal identity should not influence legal proceedings. In this case, the facts are clear: a fugitive, a court order, and accountability,” Giwa stated.
Adebiyi was extradited on April 14, 2026, after spending nearly eight years on the run in Nigeria following the June 2018 killing of Joshua Boadu in the United Kingdom.
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He is also accused of supplying crack cocaine between October 2017 and March 2018.
Providing further insight, Giwa said Adebiyi had fled to Nigeria believing he could evade prosecution.
“He fled to Nigeria, thinking he would be safe. He was wrong,” he wrote on Thursday.
According to the police, authorities in the United Kingdom submitted a formal extradition request to INTERPOL National Central Bureau Abuja in September 2024.
Adebiyi was arrested on January 23, 2025, after which extradition proceedings were initiated at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
On February 16, 2026, Justice A. O. Faji approved the extradition request, paving the way for Adebiyi’s handover to UK law enforcement at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
Reflecting on the development, Giwa highlighted the long wait endured by the victim’s family.
“Joshua Boadu’s family waited nearly eight years for this day. Today, the Nigeria Police Force and INTERPOL NCB Abuja made it possible,” he said.
