Senator-elect, Ogun-East, Prince Buruji Kashamu, was said to have threatened to kill
himself if officials of the National
Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
forced their way into his house, yesterday, claiming there was a court
injunction against the NDLEA’s action. Some of his friends who claimed to
have contacted him on phone between 7
and 9 am told Sunday Vanguard that
Kashamu said he would remain indoors till Monday.
But the narcotic agency explained that the operatives
mandate was to put the politician, who is also the Chairman, Organisation and
Mobilisation Committee of the PDP in the South-West, under house arrest pending when he would appear in court on Monday.
The NDLEA
spokesman, Mitchel Ofoyeju , in a six paragraph statement, yesterday,
said: “A special team of NDLEA has confined Ogun State senator-elect, Buruji
Kashamu, to his Lagos residence pending his appearance in court on Monday, May
25, 2015 to perfect his extradition to the United States.
“The agency has
commenced extradition procedures against Senator-elect Buruji Kashamu in line with the laws of
country. He has been in contact with his attorneys and will appear in court on
Monday.
“The residence of Buruji was raided by narcotic operatives
at about 5am today.
Further information will be communicated to the media”
But Kashamu’s media aide, Mr Austine Oniypkor, described the
siege on his principal’s house as illegal, dismissing the claim that the NDLEA had arrest warrant to that effect.
In a statement,
Oniyokor said: “ Yes, at about 4:30am,
some men, who claimed to be from the NDLEA, surrounded the Lekki Phase 1, Lagos
residence of Prince Buruji Kashamu to allegedly effect his arrest following a
purported extradition request from the US.
“This latest onslaught is a confirmation of the alleged plot
to illegally abduct him in spite of the pending suit against this illegality.
As a matter of fact, the court has ordered parties in the matter, including the
NDLEA, to maintain the status quo until
judgment is delivered on Wednesday, 27th May, 2015.
“We have confirmed that they do not have a warrant of
arrest, just as the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and
Minister of Justice has said that it did not give any order to carry out this
illegality. We have confirmed that this illegality is being designed and
executed by Chief Bode George whose wife is the Director General of the NDLEA,
all in a bid to score cheap political points.
“We urge all well meaning Nigerians to prevail on NDLEA,
Chief George and his wife to toe the path of the rule of law and follow due
process. Nigeria is not a Banana republic! The United States (US), being the
bastion of democracy, the rule of law and due process should not lend itself to
this kind of illegality”.
Kashamu had, of late, alleged a plot to abduct and extradict
to the US to answer drug related charges, citing information leaked to his
lawyer by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) close to the Attorney General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke.
His travails began
shortly after he fell apart with former
President Olusegun Obasanjo over the control of the leadership of the PDP in Ogun State.
Buruji had been in
Obasanjo’s faction of the PDP against the then Ogun State governor, Otunba
Gbenga Daniel, in 2008 .
After the emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan via the 2011 elections, he was
appointed the Chairman of
Organisation and Mobilisation Committee for Jonathan’s re-election in the
South-West.
In his famous resignation letter from the PDP, Obasanjo said that as the Chairman of an
anti-drug body in West Africa, he could not continue to be in a party where
a wanted drug baron was the leader in
his home state, in what many interpreted as veiled reference to Kashamu.
In late 2014, the former president had launched a book, ‘My Watch’, in which he
described Kashamu as a fugitive.
The senator-elect went
to court – the same way he had gone to court on several occasions-until
he secured the control of PDP in Ogun State, obtaining an injunction restraining Obasanjo from selling the book.
The order has since
been vacated.
Kashamu emerged
as PDP
senatorial candidate for Ogun East and was returned elected at the
general elections.
Since his victory at the poll, the high profile
politician has taken pre-emptive steps to forestall any
attempt to ‘abduct’ him for extradition to the US.
On May 9, he sued the Inspector General of Police, IGP and
nine other individuals for allegedly
plotting his abduction.
In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos, the
NDLEA Chairman; EFCC Chairman; Director
General of the DSS; the Attorney General
of the Federation were joined as co-respondents.
In an order made on April 17, the court directed an interim
stay of all actions arising from the applicant’s claims to extradition.
The court ordered as follows: “In line with the provisions
of the order (iv) rule 4 (c)(iv) of the Fundamental Rights’(Enforcement
Procedure) Rules 2009, the Respondents herein shall in the interim stay all actions
arising from the Applicant’s claims capable of intringing on his fundamental
rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement and association pending the
hearing and determination of the
Applicant’s substantive application dated 14/4/2015.
(2)That the Court’s decision on the prayers 2 to 7 endorsed
on the Applicant’s exparte application is hereby adjourned to abide the outcome
of the substantive motion on notice dated 14/4/2015. (3)Prayer 1 endorsed on
the Applicant’s exparte application dated 14/4/2015 deserves to succeed and it is accordingly
grant as prayed.
That the Applicant shall serve the originating processes and
all other Court’s processes meant for service in this suit on the 1st, 3rd,
4th, 6th, 7th to 12th Respondents at
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory Abuja
outside the jurisdiction of this Court. (4)That the matter is hereby
adjourned to the 4th May 2015 for hearing of the motion on notice
14/4/2015. Issued at Lagos, under the
Seal of the Court and the Hand of the presiding Judge this 17th day of April,
2015″.
Culled : Vanguard
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