The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has said it is still continuing moves to extradite a senator representing Ogun-East at the National assembly, Buruji Kashamu, to the United States for alleged drug-related offences.
NDLEA said it is appealing the various orders and court injunctions granted the senator, which are preventing his arrest and extradition.
A Federal High Court in Lagos had, in separate rulings, restrained the NDLEA and any other agencies in the country from unlawfully arresting and forcefully extraditing Kashamu to the US.
In an interview, the Head of Public Affairs, NDLEA, Mitchell Ofoyeju, said the agency had approached the courts to vacate all orders granted Kashamu adding that the agency would follow all legal means to ensure that Kashamu was extradited.
He explained that Kashamu had built several legal walls to prevent the agency from arresting to him.
“He (Kashamu) went to court to seek several orders. We have appealed those orders. The matters have not been determined. We are in court.”
“For instance, the warrant of arrest we obtained from the court, he set it aside (through a court). Then, the suit the Attorney-General of the Federation filed; the motion for his extradition, he also went to court to set it aside. The AGF is appealing that order and we are appealing ours. The cases are already in court,” Ofoyeju said.
He claimed that NDLEA is not witch hunting Kahamu but acted on a request by the American government to extradite him.
“We have the formal request from the United States,’ asking for his extradition. We have that and we went to obtain a warrant of arrest which he got an order to set aside. He got so many court orders; we are now appealing those orders to enable us to follow due process.
“We cannot use the legal process to impede his extradition process. If he says he believes in the rule of law, we are going to follow it up to a logical conclusion,” he added.
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