Extradition: Court grants Kashamu breathing space

Estranged senator-elect for Ogun East Senatorial District, Buruji Kashamu has been given some reprieve as a Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday restrained security agencies in Nigeria from unlawfully arresting and forcibly transporting him out of the country.

Justice Okon Abang, in a judgment on Wednesday, also ordered the unfettered swearing-in of Kashamu as a senator with all the attached privileges since his victory in the March 28, 2015 election had not been upturned.

The judge declared as illegal any attempt to abduct or forcibly transport Kashamu to the US to stand trial in relation to drug-trafficking allegations from which he had been exonerated by two British courts.

Abang also granted Kashamu’s prayer that having earlier obtained the judgment of a Nigerian court on January 6, 2014, barring his arrest and extradition to the US, and the judgment having not been set aside, the respondents could not arrest and extradited him to the US.

Meanwhile, the NDLEA had indicated its readiness to abide by the order of court asking it to withdraw its operatives drafted to Kashamu’s Lagos home since Saturday, May 23.

The agency made the promise in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, on Wednesday.

It, however, failed to specify when its operatives would vacate Kashamu’s house.

 

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