In the early hours of May 23,
2015, operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) stormed
the Lekki residence of Buruji Kashamu, former senator from Ogun state, in a bid
to arrest and extradite him to the United States to answer to drug dealing
allegations against him.
In the following five days, the
NDLEA team camped at the house, resolute on leaving with Kashamu who had just
been elected senator of Ogun east district. But they never got to him. He was
safely hiding in a toilet, according to his lawyer.
Ajibola Oluyede, Kashamu’s
counsel who was able to get a court to issue a restraining order stopping the
NDLEA operatives from nabbing the politician, narrated how the former lawmaker
escaped arrest by hiding in his toilet for six days.
“My client was in a toilet for
six days with 20 masked armed men in his bedroom,” he had said, adding that
“the only reason they (NDLEA operatives) left was because I signed an
undertaking,” even though they claimed “to have obeyed the order of the court”.
That single episode captured
Kashamu’s personality as a fighter who was on the run most of his adult life.
From his tussle with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to
the battle with law enforcement agents attempting to extradite him, Kashamu
conquered most of his fights except his latest with COVID-19.
HIS LONG BATTLE WITH THE US AND ‘INVOLVEMENT’ IN 9/11
In 1998, following his arrest in England, a grand jury in Chicago indicted the late business mogul for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin in the United States. He was alleged to have had a drug ring which moved millions of dollars worth of heroin from Europe and Southeast Asia during the 1990s.
Kashamu, however, denied the
allegation, saying it was a case of mistaken identity and that the person being
sought by US authorities is Adewale Kashamu, his late brother allegedly killed
in the 1980s by an officer of the Nigerian Customs Service.
He claimed he was a US government
informant who provided information about terrorist attacks on the US before and
after 9/11.
In 2003, a British court refused
a US request to extradite Kashamu, citing uncertainty about his identity. He
was then freed from prison where he had been for five years after being found
carrying $230,000 when he was arrested.
But this did not deter the US
government which dismissed Kashamu’s claim as absurd and insisted that he was
indeed the drug dealer being sought.The US insists he is a fugitive — and with
an arrest warrant against him still in force.
‘PEOPLE WILL DIE BEFORE I AM EXTRADITED’
Years after returning to Nigeria, the federal government
through security agencies initiated plans to extradite Kashamu to the US to
answer to the pending allegations against him.
About a week after failing to arrest him in his house and
less than two months after being elected as senator, the NDLEA was able to
serve him a notice of application for his extradition.
But he never stopped fighting back. He challenged the
government’s actions in court alleging 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.
When a US appeal court upheld a ruling mandating Kashamu to
face trial for the allegations, in January 2017, he said the case is “dead,”
and that “any other purported extradition proceedings or abduction is illegal”.
Four days later, he said he intended to hire 40 members of
the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) to protect him, and that people would lose
their lives before he is extradited to the US.
“I will go and hire OPC, maybe like, 40. I will load them in
my vehicle, because the day we meet, one has to kill one,” he had said, adding:
“That is for sure! One has to kill one because I am not ready to go anywhere.
Before that happens, maybe about three, four or five people will die.”
FALLING OUT WITH THE
PDP
As a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kashamu
was often at daggers drawn with the party and its leadership at various levels.
In November 2016, while serving as senator, the Ogun state
chapter of the party suspended him over alleged financial impropriety and
anti-party activity. Less than a year later, the national leadership of the
party queried him over his “involvement in some issues” at the party’s state
level and proceeded to suspend him about two months after.
In 2018, he emerged the governorship candidate of a faction
of the PDP in the state’s election and, against the wish of the party’s
leadership, but would later be recognised by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC).
When Ali Modu Sheriff was laying claim to the chairmanship position of the PDP, Kashamu threw his weight behind him, again, against the party’s preferred choice of Ahmed Makarfi-led.
HIS LIFE IN BUSINESS
Before his death, he was the chairman/chief executive of
Kasmal Group of Companies, an indigenous conglomerate with interests in
hospitality, property, oil and gas, automobile and investment services as well
as the chairman of the Group Kasmal SAL in the Republic of Benin.
He also founded Western Lotto Limited, his lottery business
which was always at loggerheads with Kessington Adebutu’s Premier Lotto.
‘HOW $500,000
EXCHANGED HANDS OVER THE AMENDMENT OF LOTTERY ACT’
In an interview in February 2020, he alleged that the
National Lottery Regulatory Commission Act was amended in 2017 after “some
500,000 dollars exchanged hands”.
He said the amendment was compromised, and defeated the
purpose of setting up the commission to give it exclusive rights on the lottery
business.
“A major operator single-handedly sponsored the 2017
amendment to the enabling Act that set up the NLRC, with the singular aim of
whittling down the government and NLRC’s powers and having exclusive rights
over fixed odds in Nigeria,” he alleged in the interview.
“Some $500,000 exchanged hands over the amendment. The
process of the amendment was wrongly compromised and its contents obnoxious to
the growth and development of the sector.
“It will be in the interest of justice for the federal
government to revisit the issue of the amendment of the Act and return it to
what it used to be. Even if there is a need for an amendment, it should not be
in the mould of the heavily compromised version.”
ADVOCATE FOR MENTAL
HEALTH, STRONG INSTITUTIONS
At the national assembly where he represented Ogun east from
2015 to 2019, Kashamu was of the belief that good governance is possible in
Nigeria only with strong institutions.
This was perhaps the reason he sponsored bills that sought
to strengthen government agencies including the National Environmental
Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act amendment bill and
the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Act amendment bill.
He also sponsored other pieces of legislation such as the
mental health bill that sought to provide a framework for the admission and
treatment of persons with mental health conditions, and the national security
tax fund bill which was aimed at devising ways through which security agencies
can access additional funds for their operations.
HAD NO TIME FOR
MOVIES
Spending time in front of the television is most people’s
hubby — even President Muhammadu Buhari does this during his leisure.
But this is not the case for Kashamu who once said he had
more pressing things to attend to than to spend time watching movies. It was in
an interview with the Chicago Tribune on a Netflix series inspired by his drug
charges in the US titled “Orange Is The New Black”.
The TV show is based on the real life experiences of Piper
Kerman, one of the witnesses involved in Kashamu’s case.
Asked about the show, Kashamu said: “…I haven’t seen
it. I do not have time to see films or
movies. There are more pressing and productive things for me to spend my time
on.”
GETTING ‘EXTRADITED’
BY COVID-19
His battle with the grim reaper began weeks ago when he tested positive for COVID-19.
As his case worsened, he was moved to First Cardiology
Consultants in Lagos, where he was being treated until he succumbed to the
disease.
Unlike many of his battles in life from which he came out
unscathed, COVID-19 changed the status quo and extradited him to the world
beyond. And at the age of 62.
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What a wasteful life and crime committed. Vanity upon vanity, all is vanity.upon all is crime and dubious things he has done. Where is he now. Grave ends d life of birth kashamu.
ReplyDeleteAll living will death except Allah
ReplyDeleteVanity upon vanity.
ReplyDeleteOthers alive should learn from this. Seek and involve God in all you do. He has signed out.
ReplyDeleteThis life
ReplyDeleteWhy person says bad things about him, allow God to judge. May his soul rest in Peace
ReplyDeleteWhy person says bad things about him, allow God to judge. May his soul rest in Peace
ReplyDeleteVanity upon vanity do well in life...
ReplyDelete