NDLEA men circle Kashamu’s house to arrest him

Men of the tactical squad of the national drug law enforcement agency (NDLEA) stormed the residence of Buruji Kashamu in the Lekki area of Lagos in the early hours of Saturday.

The officers were on a mission to extradite the senator-elect (of Ogun east senatorial district) to the United States of America (USA) to answer drug related accusations proffered against him.

An officer of the agency who spoke to TheCable on anonymous ground, said they arrived the area late last night but refused to comment on the operation.

“I cannot say anything for now, but we are still on it,” he said

Kashamu had earlier instituted a case against the inspector-general of police (IGP) and 11 others at a federal high court in Lagos to prevent such moves.

Joined as defendants with the IGP in the fundamental rights suit are NDLEA chairman,economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC), director-general of the department of state security (DSS), the interpol national central bureau (NCB), and attorney-general of the federation (AGF).

Others are the clerk of the national assembly, the national security adviser to the president, independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission (ICPC), Nigeria custom service (NCS); Nigeria immigration service (NIS) and Nigeria security and civil defence corps (NSCDC).

In an originating summons brought before Justice Okon Abang, he alleged that there was a conspiracy between the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria and the US to humiliate him and prevent his swearing-in as senator.

Kashamu is seeking nine declarative orders from the court to restrain the defendants from arresting, detaining or otherwise effecting his abduction upon spurious allegation.

He accused Obasanjo of plotting to stop his progress politically and of desperation to use propaganda against him to give impression that he had been convicted for drug-related offences in the United Kingdom (UK) or US.

He said the international criminal police organisation (INTERPOL) was instigated to investigate him on the basis of these allegations in 2008, after which the agency published a report dated March 4, 2008, saying that he was never declared wanted.

Kashamu claimed that through one Koye Ijaduoye, a chieftain of the PDP told him that Obasanjo was conniving with US security officials to arrest and transport him to the US in a private plane to face trial.

Efforts to speak reach the agency did not yield any result, as Mitchel Ofoyeju, NDLEA’s spokesman, neither picked his call nor responded to the text message sent to his phone.