The Senate Wednesday resolved to invite the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, over alleged fresh plot to kidnap Senator Buruji Kashamu and ship him to the United States to face trial on alleged drug charges.
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 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.
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, “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.
Anaynwu 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.
