Antigraft controversy: Panic as Senate summons Attorney General over Abduction of Kashamu
Emerging reports suggests that the Attorney General and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, would be invited by the Senate.
Sources say the Parliament on Wednesday, February 3, resolved to
invite the AGF over alleged fresh plot to kidnap Senator Buruji Kashamu
and ship him to the United States to face trial on alleged drug charges.
The Senate committee on ethics, privileges and public petitions
invited Malami following a petition to it by Kashamu through his
solicitor Ajibola Oluyede.
Senator Kashamu and Oluyede appeared before the committee on Wednesday to defend and throw more light on the petition.
Oluyede who spoke on behalf of Kashamu at the hearing said that the
fresh plot to abduct Kashamu by unknown agents was revealed to them
through a text message by an informant in the National Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
He noted that the plot was to kidnap Kashamu or if abduction failed to shoot him.
According to The Nation, Oluyede said that their suspicion is that
some interested parties in the office of the Attorney General of the
Federation might have been perjured to facilitate the abduction of
Kashamu to the US.
He noted that the text massage was so credible that they have no alternative than to seek protection from the Senate.
A member of the committee, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah wondered why
those after Kashamu would want to shoot when a dead man could not be
brought to face justice.
He also said that allegation that Kashamu operates a drug factory does not add up since factories could be identified.
Na’Allah noted that it looks as if there is internal conspiracy in
the NDLEA if an officer could send such a message about the office he works.
He suggested that since the office of the Attorney General had been
linked with the alleged plot to abduct Kashamu, the option left for the
committee is to invite Malami to state the position of his office on the
matter.
Other members of the committee agreed.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, said that the
Attorney General had already written the committee seeking a date within
the month to appear before the committee on the issue.
Oluyede later told reporters that:
“Recently it came to our
attention that there were moves again, not to extradite him (Kashamu),
but as the United States Government has a policy of rendition, rendition
is forbidden by international law.
“It is also even a criminal Act under the US law but the US
Government does it and the Supreme Court of United States more or less
allows it by saying that well if you come to our country illegally, it
doesn’t matter to us, so long as you are here, we have jurisdiction over
you and we will try you on any offence for which you are brought here.
“So, on that basis the American security agencies often kidnap people and take them to the US to face what they call justice.
“Most of the time they have only done it in what they call enemy territory and only against terrorists.
“We have had only one instance in Nigeria where they have done
rendition and that is against a motor dealer here, who was carried
suddenly and exported to United States, Lanre Shittu.
“Now this is what is being planned currently against Senator
Kashamu and we have it on very good authority and you will see we have
quoted from an agent of the NDLEA, a sympathetic agent.
“He was even among those who were sitting in his bedroom with guns and wearing masks for six days.
“There were some of them who were giving us information and till today, there are still people in the NDLEA who have conscience.
“When they see any bad thing going on they want to be whistle
blowers but we know there is a problem with being a whistle blower in
Nigeria.
“Unless Nigeria enacts a law that protects whistle blowers it
will be difficult to really hold on to some of our public officers who
are actually criminals who should not be in public office at all and
that is why we are relying on information given to us by this informant
and we have quoted that text that that is the plan.
“Mr. Ahmed Giade was the chairman of the NDLEA at the time they
invaded his house the first time to export him, the unsuccessful
attempt.”
Oluyede claimed Giade has been
“meeting with them and even the office of Attorney General has told us that they warned him to stop.”
“They wrote a letter and that letter is also in the bundle,
telling NDLEA, we have this case in court you should not take any
further step, don’t meet with the US officials anymore but the
ambassador of the US came out unwittingly, voluntarily he told a
newspaper that he is still meeting with Nigerian government officials
for the purpose of the rendition of senator Kashamu.”
He continued saying:
“The only government official he could be
meeting with is NDLEA officials and that is why we take this text very
serious and now knowing this we have made further inquiries and we have
found out that is true because even after Giade retired in December
from NDLEA his backers still got him into government.
“He is almost 80 years old he should be in his village but his
backers smuggled him into government as Special Assistant to the
Attorney General on Narcotics.
“This gives him a supervisory power over NDLEA even after
removing him as chairman. He is still in control of NDLEA because the
office of the Attorney General is the supervisory authority over NDLEA
and it is in that capacity now.
“He is at the centre of this move to carry out the rendition of
senator Kashamu and there are many more information that are contained
in the document.
“The reason we are here is that the Senate should be able to look into this matter.
“Yes, there are certain aspects of this matter pending in court but there are aspects of it that the court can never look at.
“The court is not going to look into the internal workings of a
government institution and find out whether those who have been
appointed to hold office in that institution have carried out their
duties in accordance with their remit or in accordance with the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the court is not
going to find out whether currently under the influence of a foreign
power for the purpose of abducting, kidnapping a senator , nobody is
going to carry out that investigation.
“It is only this hallowed chamber that has the supervisory power
to look into what the executive is doing and find out whether the
executive is actually complying either with the statutes that emanates
from this chambers or even with the constitution and you have the
power to do that, to call people to order and say this is wrong.
“You have the power to recommend to the president and say this
officer who is in government is not operating appropriately and he ought
to be dealt with.
“The courts cannot do that, the courts cannot usurp the function
of the legislature and the legislature cannot usurp the function of the
court. We humbly appeal to you to take the appropriate action in this
matter.”
Oluyede said that a former Attorney General of the Federation was part of the conspiracy to abduct Kashamu.
Anyanwu said:
“We have heard his case and we have asked
questions. Having heard from you the Solicitor to Senator Kashamu, you
may now leave and be rest assured that the committee has heard you and
we will hear from the other correspondents and we will come up with a
position on this issue.
“Meanwhile I think it is obvious that when we make our investigation we will put down our report to the entire senate
“We have to invite the parties involved and not in representative capacity to answer to the allegations.
“This allegation concerns Giade and whatever the senate will
arrive at he is equally going to be affected by it so it only fair that
we hear from him.
“This matter is before the senate and we think status quo should
remain until we look at the issues in the petition and come up with a
position.
Kashamu recently had a day of pomp and celebration in Ijebu Igbo,
Ogun state where he threw a party for his supporters, following the
verdict of a Court of Appel which dismissed the tribunal judgment that
nullified his election as Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial
district.
There have been claims that the PDP lawmaker has been trying to
defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), based on a statement in
praise of the antigraft war by President Buhari, however, the Senator
said he was not supporting the war because he planned to defect from the
PDP, but because it is in the best interest of the Nigerian people.
It would be recalled that the Federal High Court in Lagos state on
Tuesday, December 1, 2015, granted an order of perpetual injunction
restraining the attorney general of the federation and the National Drug
Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) from taking over the properties of the
embattled Senator Kashamu
