The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has explained why it finally pulled out its operatives from the house of Buruji Kashamu.
According to it, the agency withdrew from the Lekki, Lagos home of the Ogun state senator-elect “when it officially received a copy of the order from the court on Thursday, May 28, 2015.” However, the agency added that Kashamu’s attorney had signed an undertaking to produce the senator-elect in court for hearing.
“This is not the end of the case as the NDLEA has filed a formal extradition process at the Federal High Court. The Agency is following the due process of law and will ensure that national interest is balanced against the constitutional rights of Mr. Kashamu.
“The mission of the NDLEA is not and has never been to abduct him, but to engage the extradition process. The agency is taking necessary steps to ensure that Mr. Kashamu will be available to stand trial on extradition charges as required by law.
“To this end, the NDLEA has a provisional warrant of arrest on him as well as a formal request for his extradition. The honourable thing for him to do is to submit to the due process of the law as pledged.
“The NDLEA wishes to reiterate that it would comply with all court orders and not forcefully abduct and take him to the United States for trial.
“It is pertinent to state that the court did not prevent the Agency from embarking on extradition process against Mr. Kashamu.
The court held that the respondents cannot be restrained perpetually from arresting the applicant and that they were only restrained from arresting him without a warrant of arrest and for forcibly abducting and taking him from Nigeria without recourse to the due process of law as enshrined in the Extradition Act,” the statement read.
It would be recalled, that the siege on Kashamu’s house started on May 23, Saturday, in a bid to arrest and extradite him to the USA to face drug related charges. However, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos declared the siege illegal and ordered to vacate Kashamu’s residence.
Meanwhile, the senator-elect is facing more trouble. The politician has been recently accused of forging documents for a landed property worth billions of Naira in Ajah area, Lagos state.
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