CSO Chides Attempt To Abduct Kashamu To US
African Civil Liberty Committee on Rendition, a Civil Society Organisation, has described alleged plans by the United State to abduct Prince Kashamu Buruji to face American law courts as a threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty.
In a statement signed by the organisation’s Country Director, Mr. Sunday Philips, the organisation termed the attempt to abduct Kashamu as an undermining of the nation’s sovereignty.
The organisation said the attempt was a direct affront to the Nigerian judiciary system, stating that the Nigerian judiciary “has enough mechanism to take care of all infringement committed on or outside Nigerian shores and should be seen in its autonomous powers”.
In the statement, Mr. Philip noted that the organisation’s decision to oppose the abduction attempt should not be seen as an obstruction of justice but a move to ensure that international conventions are respected, describing the plan as rendition.
“The hues and cries against plans to forcefully abduct him should not in any way be misconstrued to mean obstruction of justice. No one should have anything against extradition. This is varies sharply from what those against Kashamu are proposing. They are working on extraordinary rendition or irregular rendition, which our earlier source described as “the government sponsored kidnapping and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one country to another.” It read in part.
According to him it is ironic that Kashamu has summarily been discharged by three British courts on same issue.
Philip noted further that an American judge, Charles R Norgle, District Judge of United States District Court for the Northern District Illinois, Eastern Division on the July 15th, 2010 ruled that Kashamu is not a fugitive.
Prior to this, a court in England presided over by district Judge Tim Workman on January 10, 2003 declared in his judgment (after 3 years of diligent trial) that he found the man not culpable. The US authorities have not appealed this judgment and no steps have been taken further by the US until now that they are being instigated by some elements in Nigeria.
He stated further that it is pertinent to note and reiterate the fact that the US authorities have till date not made any extradition request to the Federal Government as admitted the Attorney General in his letter of January 28, 2015 and then separately by US George Norgle in 2013. Judge Posner of the US 9th Circuit pointed out in his judgment of September 15th 2014 that “Kashamu remains in Nigeria, living openly, a prominent businessman and a politician belonging to the ruling party. Although the United States has an extradition treaty with Nigeria, our government has made no effort to extradite him.”
The hullabaloo about the whole saga remains in the wildest imagination of Prince Kashamu’s enemies and those he has defeated through his humanitarian programmes for women and youth empowerment initiatives across the country. The only way to get him out of their way is the present cooked up stories which Nigerians have refused to accept.
The group has described it as a desperate attempt by Chief OlusegunObasanjo and his co-conspirators in the FBI and Homeland Security to flagrantly abuse the rights of Prince Buruji Kashamu and abduct him to the US terming it as an assault on the Senator-elect.
The organisation has thus called on the U.S Government and the incoming administration to dissociate themselves from this nefarious plan. Stating that General Muhammadu Buhari has a duty when he resumes as Commander in Chief and President of Federal Republic of Nigeria to ensure that the rights of every citizen of this country are protected under him.
“The constitution did not state that a Nigerian must belong to any specified political party to be entitled to protection and this means that we expect the right thing to be done and visibly seen to be done as we brace up for Change”. It stated further.