Go To U.S. To Clear Yourself, Former Nigerian Ambassador Tells Kashamu

diplomat, Folake Marcus-Bello, has advised fugitive Nigerian senator, Buruji Kashamu, to voluntarily go to the United States of America and clear his name over the drugs allegation against him, rather than wait until he is extradited.

Ms. Marcus-Bello gave the advice while featuring on a live radio programme on Sweet FM in Abeokuta. She said Mr. Kashamu’s lawyers should have advised him also to go and defend himself.

“Crime does not go away, it does not expire. It will continue to rear its head, nobody can claim he is guilty or innocent until he goes to clear this mess,” who served as Nigeria’s ambassador to Zambia and Malawi said.

Ms. Marcus-Bello, who is also a legal practitioner, encouraged Mr. Kashamu to consider the reputation of himself, family and Nigeria as a country to clear his name.

“For the sake of himself, his family, his constituency of hardworking, honest Ijebus, he should travel to get justice. It is simple, if they are looking for you, buy a ticket and go defend yourself.

“It is like they say they are looking for Folake Marcus Bello for children trafficking. I would buy a ticket and go to the embassy and say ‘here I am, please give me a visa let me go’”

The former Ambassador said some of the statements credited to Mr. Kashamu were shameful.

“It is shameful that somebody at that level, a senator of the Republic of Nigeria representing my constituents in Ogun State would say he would rather die, call up the private army of OPC to fight rather than being taken abroad. Why?”

On Mr. Kashamu’s contention that Nigerian and British courts had acquitted him, the former ambassador argued that it was a faulty argument.

“Look let me tell you, I am a lawyer. Crime never goes away. This is mistake a lot of people make and it is also part of our problem in this country; we don’t know the law, we don’t know our rights, we don’t read, we don’t learn. It is a simple matter.

“Crime does not go away. If you have committed a crime and you have not served the punishment for that crime, let us assume you committed a crime at age 21, you can go on till you are 90, the day you are caught you will be tried and you will serve the punishment.

“He is my Senator, some of us from his constituency will escort him to ensure he gets justice. We know he will get justice, it is an organised society. Let him clear this for the sake of Ogun State, for the sake of Ijebus for the sake of Nigeria. It is just a question of taking a flight to defend himself”

"People Will Die Before I Am Extradited" - Kashamu Threatens

The latest ruling of a United States court which ruled that Senator Buruji Kashamu must face drug charges has prompted the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) to push for the arrest of the federal lawmaker, saying it has been “emboldened and strengthened” by the ruling. Meanwhile Kashamu, on Saturday, said that he believes that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government would not oblige the request by the US Government for his extradition. Kashamu, who described as illegal the move by the US to extradite him to face alleged drug charges, said: “There is no extradition that can be brought against me again. The only thing they can do is to watch and catch me on the road; take me to the airport or Cotonou or throw me inside a vessel and take me through the Atlantic Ocean. But I am not going to let that happen.

“I don’t go to the beach, and now, I will go and hire OPC, may be like 40. I will load them (in my vehicle), because the day we meet, one has to kill one. That is for sure! One has to kill one because I am not ready to go anywhere. Before that happens, maybe about three, four or five people will die. But I do not believe that this government can entertain this kind of rubbish. I do believe that this government has integrity and they (officials) are credible; they believe in the rule of law, because if they want to do it, they could have done it. Obasanjo has been pushing them, using one Sandra, a former ambassador of the United States; he’s the one pushing everybody, meeting all these judges, but what have I done?”

In a related development, Kashamu in a statement titled, ‘US court ruling: I have no case to answer’, dated January 28, 2017, said that he was not the offender wanted in the US, but his younger brother, Adewale Kashamu, who is now late. He stated, “My brother was living in Chicago, I sent him to school. He’s very well educated. He was the one having girlfriends there; he was the one who caused a lot of problems. Even when I was in London, they still traced almost $2m into his bank account while I was in prison; they still continued doing the transaction. If you go through the last British judgment, it is there. The Interpol people were the ones who went to the bank and got all the information, and carried all the documents, they came to London and gave evidence in court.

“The Beninoise Interpol produced evidence showing that the Benin telephone number, through which the US offenders communicated with their West African collaborators, belonged to my brother, Adewale Kashamu, and not me, Buruji Kashamu. When they were looking for him, the NDLEA people went to his house here; they searched his house. They went to his car company, they sealed his car company and they took over 30 vehicles from there. He ran away.He was using the office of Remi Adiukwu Oluwalogbon on Allen Avenue. For three good years, he did not pay Remi Adiukwu. The NDLEA people sealed the car company and they confirmed this in one of their letters.”