WIN leader prepares to challenge opposition leader election delay, extradition case may go to High Court

Last Updated on Monday, 24 November 2025, 21:20 by Writer

Leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Azruddin Mohamed on Monday said he would be filing legal action against House Speaker Manzoor Nadir for so far not taking steps to have him elected Opposition Leader.

“We have to move to the court,” he told reporters, as he expressed pessimism about Mr Nadir’s eagerness to summon a meeting of opposition members of parliament (MPs) to elect him Opposition Leader.

WIN has 16 seats, A Partnership for National Unity, 12 seats and Forward Guyana Movement, one seat.

Pending the filing and outcome of such a case, Mr Mohamed said “I will continue doing my work as the presumptive opposition leader.”

Mr Nadir did not immediately respond to calls or messages on Monday. Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs said he was not told of an upcoming meeting.

Mr Mohamed’s lawyer, Siand Dhurjohn, told reporters that he has already started drafting proceedings ahead of the expiration of an ultimatum next Monday. “We don’t expect him to do anything sensible so we’re going to be prepared to serve him ” he told reporters.

The lawyer also said the House Speaker was obligated to facilitate the election of the Opposition Leader at meeting by non-governmental MPs. “It should be done as soon as possible. The very constitution contemplates that it be done as soon as possible,” he said, referring to the Opposition Leader’s constitutional role in the appointment of certain officials. “There are duties and obligations of the Leader of the Opposition which are indispensable to our democracy that the Leader of the Opposition has to do which he, as a result of the Speaker’s inaction, is deprived of the ability to do those things,” he added.

The Guyana government has repeatedly said Mr Mohamed’s election as an MP and now Opposition Leader would not immunise him from being extradited to the United States to face trial in a Florida federal court for wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering.

But the WIN Leader told reporters that his challenge of the extradition request would take several years. “No, that’s not true…We have about more than five years coming up these court steps. You just can’t extradite someone like that,” he said.

Extradition Hearing

Inside the courtroom, Prosecutor Terrence Williams, representing the US interest, told Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman that he was submitting an updated disclosure for the prosecuting State.

Defence Lawyer Roysdale Forde noted that the documents that he and his team were receiving now were “not yet properly processed” through the diplomatic channels.”

Mr Williams acknowledged that, according to law, the documents must come through the diplomatic channels. “We do not intend to tender documents that do not come through the diplomatic channels,” he told the court.

Mr Williams said “the gravamen” of the disclosed documents were statements collected in advance from local persons.

Mr Dhurjon said it is only after receiving full disclosure of “all of the documents” that he would be able to receive further instructions from Azruddin Mohamed and his father Nazar “Shell” Mohamed.

Messrs Forde and Dhurjon intend to make oral submissions on “constitutional points” when the case comes up again on November 28.

Shortly after exiting the courtroom, Mr Dhurjon said he and other members of the team intend to mount a constitutional challenge. “We are working assiduously on building on those points with each passing day. We are waiting on the appropriate time to deploy them. At present, now, it will be premature to deploy them until we have seen everything because new issues may be identified in those new documents,” he said.

Mr Forde indicated that it would be necessary to take the extradition request to the High Court to be determined “on a number of major constitutional issues.”

Mr Williams said Monday’s documents presented to the court contains “evidence supporting the request from the United States.” He said they were not properly processed through the diplomatic channel because he the other members of the legal team “were endeavoring to ensure that the Defence get their copies as early as possible” to meet Monday’s deadline.

But Mr Dhurjon said those were not all the documents and asked that they be submitted on or before Friday and through the diplomatic channels.

Mr Forde said so far, there is no evidence in the previously disclosed documents to show that the Mohameds are connected to Venezuela and the Middle East.