Buruji Kashamu: ‘Obasanjo planning to abduct, extradite me to US,’ Senator-elect says

Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Buruji Kashamu, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of plotting to abduct and extradite him to the US. Kashamu, the Senator-elect for the Ogun East District, alleged that Obasanjo was working with local and foreign security agencies to achieve the aim. The allegations were contained in a petition filed by Kashamu through his lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, and submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The petition, titled “Prince Buruji Kashamu: Abduction plans by United States of America’s agents in collaboration with law enforcement agencies in Nigeria”, was addressed to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Prof. Ben Angwe. “The current plan to abduct him (Kashamu) is an admission by the US authorities that there is no case against him and is a design instigated and commissioned by Obasanjo who seeks revenge against him for the comprehensive political defeat Obasanjo suffered because of Kashamu in the PDP,” Oluyede wrote. Oluyede further urged the commission to intervene in the matter “in accordance with the jurisdiction expressly given to your commission by the National Human Rights Act 1995 as amended to carry out an inquiry into the matter in order to establish the culpability and compromise of certain institution in this despicable plan and to protect our client’s fundamental human right to liberty, life and dignity of his person.” “Kashamu’s enquiry revealed that indeed there had been moves by US officials within the region to secure the assistance of the head of the INTERPOL division in Nigeria, Mr. Solomon Arase, a Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the arrest and delivery to the US officials of Kashamu for transportation to the US without following the due process required by the Nigeria Extradition Act,” the petition continued. Kashamu was reportedly indicted in 1998 for drug dealing in the US, a charge which he has vehemently denied.