Just hours after a United States court ruled that the country’s security agents can arrest Senator Buruji Kashamu for dr*g trafficking in coordination with local authorities outside the country, the legislator has reacted through his lawyer.
Some
months ago, security operative in Nigeria had attempted to arrest him
in his Lagos home and extradite him to the US to face trial but this
proved abortive as he was able to secure a court order stopping the
move.
“This
action was not brought against Senator Buruji Kashamu. It was initiated
by him in 2015 before the attempted abduction saga occurred and was
already pending in the District Court in Northern Illinois seeking to
enforce the provisions of the Mansfield Act (a United States Law which
forbids US law enforcement agents from carrying out law enforcement
activities outside US territory).
“At
the time this action was commenced, all the Senator had was information
that an abduction was being planned against him. Few months later that
information was confirmed when a battalion of armed and masked
National Dr*g Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officials attacked, sacked
and laid siege to his home for six days until they were forced to leave
his premises by court order,” he said adding that the US action
continued thereafter on the evidence that showed that some of the
country’s agents had indeed directed the operation against Senator
Kashamu.
In a statement made available
to NAIL.com, Buruji’s counsel said the judgment of the District Court
not did not deal with the legality or otherwise of the act of those US
agents but stopped at the threshold of consideration of the question
whether the Mansfield Act could be the basis for complaint by an
individual alleging illegal law enforcement activities in violation of
that Act.
He added that the District
Court’s answer to that question was that the Mansfield Act did not give
an individual any cause of action and that it is from that ruling that
Senator Kashamu appealed to the Seventh Circuit whereupon the Seventh
Circuit rejected the appeal.
“In
the belated opinion given again by Justice Posner, as he had done twice
before, he exceeded the scope of the questions placed before the court
and made remarks that have no basis in the record before him but which
appears to emanate from his own prejudices.
“The
media probably needs a stimulant to sustain their audience now that the
drama of the US election is abating. But they should be careful to be
accurate in their reporting in order not to transcend the bounds of
decency and legality as we have seen in the reaction of some overzealous
Nigerian journalists.
“It
is disturbing that the media has ignored the implication of the US
Seventh Circuit’s pronouncement concerning the capacity of the US
government to carry out police operations in foreign territory in breach
of International Law and the municipal law of the victim state; as was
exhibited in the unlawful attempt to abduct a senator of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. Who knows who will be next?
“The Nigerian courts have unequivocally declared that rendition is illegal and have proscribed such activity against Senator Kashamu in Nigerian territory,” the statement added.
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