Buruji Kashamu
The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Senator Buruji Kashamu, seeking to stop security agencies from extraditing him to the United State of America (U.S.A.) over drug-related offences.
Kashamu, representing Ogun East, in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/930/2018, sued the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Lagos State Commissioner of Police, NDLEA and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining them from arresting or detaining him in any matter whatsoever or interfering with his personal liberty and freedom of movement.
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This, he said, is in protest of NDLEA’s invitation to U.S. to request his extradition.He also urged the trial judge, Chukwujekwu Aneke, for a declaration that the attempt and any further attempt by the first to fourth respondents to arrest him on the basis of the AGF’s instructions were in breach of his fundamental rights to personal liberty and freedom as guaranteed by Section 35 of the Constitution and Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).
However, NDLEA in a notice of preliminary objection filed by its lawyers, J. N. Sunday and Ichakpa Ogoga, urged the court to dismiss Kashamu’s suit for being incompetent, as it failed to disclose any infringement of his right and for being an abuse of court process.In an affidavit in support of the preliminary objection deposed to by one of its litigation/exhibit officers, Kareem Olayinka, NDLEA stated that the U.S. authorities sometime in May 2015 sought to have Kashamu extradited to answer charges relating to the trafficking in heroin.
The deponent also stated that since the applicant got wind of the extradition request, he had filed multiplicity of lawsuits relating to the matter. He listed the suits as FHC/L/CS/508/14, FHC/L/CS 508/2015, FHC/L/CS/763/2015 and FHC/L/CS/479/2015, before Justice O. E. Abang, Justice Nasir Ibrahim Buba and Justice G. O. Kolawole, adding that the AGF successfully prosecuted the appeal against the judgment of Abang in both substantive and contempt cases and obtained judgments setting aside the decisions of the lower court in appeal numbers CA/L/1030/2015 and CA/L/1030A/205.
Justice Aneke, who observed that the first, second and fifth respondents, that is the IGP, CP and AGF, were not represented by any counsel due to non-issuance of hearing notice on them, ordered that the hearing notice be issued and served on them while he adjourned the case till March 5, for hearing of Kashamu’s motion on notice and NDLEA’s preliminary objection.
