Court Warns FG Over Senator Buruji Kashamu

Senator Buruji Kashamu has flawed the Federal Government as a federal high court in Lagos, on Thursday, December 3, restrained FG from seizing his properties over drug trafficking allegations.

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Justice Ibrahim Buba who gave the warning said it will be an abuse of powers for the respondents to infringe onthe senator’s property rights without following due process.

The legal luminary barred the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) from violating Kashamu’s rights to own property.

The senator approached the court and requested for an order of perpetual injunction restraining NDLEA and the AGF from confiscating his properties.

Kashamu alleged that he got hints of plots by officials of the federal government to confiscate his assets comprising a 24-flat housing estate at Egbe and several hectares of land on Lekki Peninsula, Lagos.

The Senator said the assets which he acquired through legitimate business and hard work is worth N20billion. He stated that the properties were not obtained by gains from drug trafficking as alleged by the NDLEA. He said sections 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution grants him the right to own property, noting that anything contrary will be a breach of the law if the respondents were not restrained.

Justice Buba who ruled in favour of the senator held that the prosecution cannot make any move against the senator when the restraining orders were still existing, especially as the earlier judgment stopping Kashamu’s extradition had not been discharged or vacated.

The justice insisted that the prosecution is bound to obey the orders until set aside by the Court of Appeal.

“The judgments of this court are binding on the parties and on this court until set aside on appeal,” he said.

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According to him, FG cannot confiscate Kashamu’s property on the basis of the same allegations that had been decided upon by the court “whether rightly or wrongly.”

“Consequently, this application has merit. Same is granted in the light of the judgments referred to in this ruling,” he said.

Recall that Justice Buba, on June 23, re-affirmed the May 27 order by Justice Okon Abang of the same court stopping the senator from being arrested and extradited to the United States for prosecution over drug related charges.

Also, a federal high court sitting in Abuja had on July 1, 2015, dismissed the extradition suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation against Senator Kashamu on the ground that the court lacks the jurisdiction to review the judgement of a competent court of concurrent jurisdiction.

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