Press statement on the travails of Buruji Kashamu by League of Lawyers
The travails of Senator-elect Buruji Kashamu - being text of the press
statement issued by the Public Interest Lawyers League. Read below...
The siege laid to the home of Buruji Kashamu by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the Nigeria Police is nearing its fourth day.
The facts leading to the siege are well too known that they don't bear repeating here. For the record, the Public Interest Lawyers League (PILL) frowns at the crude, gestapo-style manner that the NDLEA, Police and the AGF have conducted themselves since the news of the siege broke last Saturday morning.
The
dictates and the demands of the law are not too onerous to be complied
with by statutory agencies and persons charged with the responsibility
of protecting its sanctity, rather than the recourse to might, power and
the bullying tactics reminiscent of the military that Buruji Kashamu is
today experiencing at the behests of the afore-mentioned statutory
authorities.
That Buruji Kashamu is wanted in
the United States of America for drug related charges doesn't make him
any less a citizen of Nigeria that must be hounded and stripped of the
fundamental liberties guaranteed by Sections 34, 35, 37 and 41 of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999. Buruji Kashamu,
whatever the substance of the criminal charge against him in the United
States of America, is a Nigerian citizen and his rights must be defended
against the totalizing power of the United States of America, the same
way the United States of America consistently defended the likes of Dick
Cheney who were fingered in the notorious Halliburton bribe scandal,
acting through our own statutory agencies such as National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency.
If the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, through
the AGF, has any extradition request from the United States of America,
the proper thing the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency should do is
to secure a warrant of arrest against Buruji Kashamu and institute
extradition proceedings before the High Court of Justice. We are at pain
as to finding the legal basis for the current siege laid by narcotics
and security operatives to the home of Buruji Kashamu, contrary to
Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
The statement credited to the Attorney-General of the Federation, which
is to the effect that the United States of America's request for
extradition of Buruji Kashamu makes the ongoing siege to the home of
Buruji Kashamu legal, is utterly ludicrous. Extradition request does not
serve as a warrant of arrest!
We note, based
on what is already discernible from the public media space, that the
government of the United States of America attempted twice to secure the
extradition of Buruji Kashamu from the United Kingdom and twice it
failed. We ask: does the government of the United States of America have
new, fresh and compelling evidence to establish basis for its renewed
extradition request to the Nigerian government? If it does, why have our
narcotics and security operatives adopted the bullying, gestapo-style
tactics that suggest the sinister motive of attempts to kidnap Citizen
Kashamu by any means other than legal? If there are new, fresh and
compelling facts and evidence, let the Attorney-General of the
Federation present them to the scrutiny of our laws and our court.
For
us, we join other voices to condemn the actions of our narcotics and
security operatives. Let it be known that we will join to defend the
rights of Buruji Kashamu whenever and wherever extradition proceedings
are instituted against him.
