The National Drug Law enforcement
Agency, NDLEA, on Sunday told Buruji
Kashamu to be set for extradition
proceedings and not blame anyone for
his predicaments.
Mr. Kashamu, a senator-elect, has been
under house arrest by the NDLEA since
Saturday morning, with the agency set
to drag him to court on Monday to face
extradition to the U.S. where he his
wanted for drug-related offences.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
politician blamed his current
predicament on former President
Olusegun Obasanjo and a PDP leader,
Bode George, whose wife heads the
NDLEA.
However, in a statement on Sunday,
the agency’s spokesperson, Ofoyeju
Mitchell, said, “We expect Kashamu as
a distinguished senator-elect to
demonstrate ample confidence in the
Nigerian judicial system and stop the
blame game.”
“The fact is that a formal request for
his extradition had been received from
the Embassy of the United States of
America. According to official report,
Kashamu has been on the wanted list
of both the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS),” the drug agency stated.
“Kashamu was indicted in the
Northern District of Illinois, United
States on charges brought against him
by ICE. According to the United States
court documents, Kashamu in his days
as the leader of a prolific heroin
trafficking ring based in Chicago,
Illinois was known as “God,” “Daddy,”
and “Kasmal”. He is wanted to stand
trial on charges of conspiracy and
importation of controlled substances,
namely heroin, into the United States
dating back to 1994.”
The NDLEA added that Mr. Kashamu,
“who holds dual Nigerian/Beninese
citizenship, has taken multiple
preemptive actions to thwart U.S.
extradition efforts such as making fanciful claims
that his is a case of mistaken identity, and that his
deceased brother is responsible for the crimes he is
being sought after in the United States. He has filed
injunctions at the federal court both in the Northern
District of Illinois, United States and in Nigeria to
prevent his arrest and prosecution.”
Mr. Kashamu, a close ally of outgoing President
Goodluck Jonathan has been making efforts to stop
his extradition in the U.S. including filing cases at
different Nigerian courts to stop the process. He was
one of the major reasons given by Mr. Obasanjo for
refusing to support the re-election of Mr. Jonathan
and choosing to dump the PDP.

S