Outrage As Abu Trica's Lawyer Oliver Barker-Vormawor Reacts to Client's Extradition to US
- Oliver Barker-Vormawor, Abu Trica's lawyer, delivered a court address after his client was extradited to the US on a Delta Airlines flight on July 9, 2026
- The lawyer noted that Abu Trica was removed from the jurisdiction, even as the court had convened to consider whether he could access his legal team
- Barker-Vormawor accused the State of deliberately denying his client access to family, counsel, and his son throughout his detention
Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the lawyer for socialite Abu Trica, has broken his silence after his client was extradited to the United States aboard Delta Airlines Flight 157 on Thursday, July 9, 2026.
Source: Facebook
In a lengthy post on his official X (formerly Twitter) page shortly after Abu's extradition, Oliver detailed the arguments he raised before the Accra High Court while the matter was still before the court.
Barker-Vormawor told the court that Abu Trica had been removed from Ghanaian soil at 9:16 AM, precisely during the window the court had set aside to consider whether he should be allowed to meet with his legal representatives.
"As this Court had convened us to consider whether a detained man might be permitted to see his lawyers, that man, if the report is true, was already above the clouds and already beyond our borders," he said.
Lawyers blocked from accessing Abu Trica
In his address, the lawyer outlined a pattern of obstruction that preceded the extradition.
He said the team had written to the Attorney-General seeking access to their client, only to receive no response.
Oliver also claimed that the Interpol Division of the Ghana Police Service denied having custody of him.
After following whistleblower information to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) headquarters, the lawyers were made to wait for hours before being told their access request had been approved, only to be turned away at the gate for arriving too late and told to return the following morning.
By the time they were on their way back the next day, Abu Trica had already been moved.
Barker-Vormawor invokes 1958 contempt case
Drawing on legal history, Barker-Vormawor cited the 1958 case of *Balogun v Edusei*, in which four men were deported before a habeas corpus hearing could take place.
The presiding judge in that case found the Minister and Commissioner of Police in contempt, with the court noting that "decisions of a court are as binding upon the Executive as the laws which Parliament passes are binding upon the ordinary citizen."
Despite the contempt finding, Parliament passed an Indemnity Act shielding those responsible, and the men remained abroad.
Barker-Vormawor warned that this historical episode was no longer merely a cautionary tale.
"I recounted that history to my colleagues yesterday as a warning of what might come to pass. I had hoped to keep it a warning," he said.
The lawyer stressed that his team had never argued against Abu Trica facing trial in another jurisdiction, but that the manner of his removal had "hollowed out" the legal process while it was still running.
He called on the court to require the State to declare, on oath, the authority, flight details, and timing of the removal, and to confirm that the court's jurisdiction to rule on the legality of what occurred had not expired simply because the man was gone.
He closed by warning that those who deny justice to others may one day find justice unavailable to them:
"Those who turn their face from Justice of their neighbours would find Justice mute when they face injustice themselves."
Abu Trica's lawyer also sought to refer the matter to the Supreme Court.
The X posts of Oliver Barker-Vormawor's address after Abu Trica's extradition to the US are below:
Source: YEN.com.gh
