We Have Not Recieved Request For Buruju's Extradiction..Justoce Ministry

 

The Federal Ministry of Justice has said there has not been any formal  request  from the United States of America (USA) for the extradition of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Mr. Buruji Kashamu.

A  source at the ministry  at the weekend said the said clamour for Kashamu’s extradition was merely  speculative.
The PDP chieftain had been accused by former President Olusegun Obasanjo of having a case to answer on drug-related offences in the US. And that Kashamu fled from the justice process in the US, and so he is a wanted man.
In a telephone conversation, a senior official of the ministry said until such a request comes, there was nothing the federal government can do on the case.

The allegation  of his alleged criminal past became rife when the PDP chieftain was appointed leader of the party in the South-west.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had rejected the appointment and threatened to leave the party, saying that Kashamu a wanted man in the US, is not fit to lead his zone of the party.

Obasanjo had, in an open letter to President Goodluck and the leadership of the PDP, frowned on  Kashamu’s elevation as a party leader in the South-west geo-political zone where the former president hails from, vowing not to participate in the party’s activities if Kashamu remained at his post.

The former president described Kashamu, who is the Chairman of the Organisation and Mobilisation Committee of PDP, South-west, as a “habitual criminal” wanted by the US government on drug charges.
But speaking at the weekend, the Justice Ministry official who preferred anonymity said all he was aware of, years back, was the request by the British government for which the PDP chieftain had long been cleared.

The official said the only issue the ministry had taken up with Kashamu was on the suit he had filed against the federal government to stop his extradition.

He said the ministry had to challenge the suit because it was not proper to file suits based on speculations.
“I can tell you that as we speak, the ministry has not received any request from the US on Kashamu’s extradition.
“All we are aware of was that he was arrested in the UK, tried and later released.

“However, here in Nigeria, the ministry has had to challenge him when it discovered that he was filing cases in court against the federal government because you don’t file cases based on speculations.”
But Kashamu has consistently denied wrongdoing, alleging that Obasanjo was crying foul because he had lost relevance in the PDP.

Meanwhile, 13 years after the judgments he claimed cleared him of wrongdoing were delivered,  Kashamu has applied to a Federal High Court in Abuja to register two judgments delivered in the United Kingdom against the United States US government.

The decisions arose in the suits: Governor of HMP Prison, Brixton Vs Government of the United States of America Exparte Buruji Kashamu and Government of the United States of America Vs Buruji Kashamu and delivered on the October 6 and 10, 2000 respectively.

He claimed that he did not know that he had to register the judgments.
Determined to absolve himself of any criminal activity in the US, a stalwart of the PDP had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to register two decisions of courts in the United Kingdom which cleared him of any criminal offence or wrong doing.

In a motion exparte filed by his counsel, Dr. Alex Izinyon (SAN) pursuant to Order 6 Rule 14(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Rules, 2009 Section 10(a) of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act Cap. F.35 LFN 2004, Buruji sought to register the two judgments.
Named as respondent to the motion is the Attorney General of England Wales.


Whereas in the judgment of October 6, 2000, District Judge Tim Workman quashed the committal order having found the proceedings against Kashamu unfair because the US government concealed vital identification evidence, the judgment of October 10, 2000, which was a full trial declared that he had no question to answer.

"I am however satisfied that the overwhelming evidence here is such that the identification evidence, already tenuous has now been so undermined as to make it incredible and valueless. In these circumstances, there is no prima facie case against the defendant and I propose to discharge," District Judge Workman said.

In the motion exparte, Izinyon prayed Justice Gabriel Kolawole to grant the applicant "the extension of time within which the applicant shall register the judgments in the suits (a) Governor of HMP Prison, Brixton Vs Government of the United States of America ex-parte Buruji Kashamu & (b) Government of the United States of America vs Buruji Kashamu and delivered on the 6th and 10th October, 2000 respectively.