HOURS before his extradition to the United States, former Tivoli Gardens don Christopher Dudus Coke asked Jamaicans to pray for him.

In a two-page typewritten statement issued through his lawyer Tom Tavares Finson, Coke said he was leaving with a heavy heart, but was convinced he would be vindicated.

Pray for me and God bless Jamaica, Coke said. I leave Jamaica and my family, in particular Patsy [mother Pauline Patsy Halliburton], with a heavy heart, but fully confident that in due course I will be vindicated and returned to them.

He said he had taken the decision to waive his rights to an extradition trial on my own free will and have done so even though Im of the belief that my case would have been successfully argued in the court of Jamaica.

I take this decision for I now believe it to be in the best interest of my family, the community of West Kingston and in particular the people of Tivoli and above all Jamaica, he said.

Coke will be taken to the United States today, where he faces drug and gun-running charges.