In a letter sent to PDP Chairman Alhaji
Bamanga Tukur on January 7th, former
president Olusegun Obasanjo said he was
withdrawing from party activities until
someone he describes as a criminal wanted
abroad to face criminal charges, is
removed as the party's South West zonal
leader.
"I believe that on no account should a
known habitual criminal that is
wanted abroad to face criminal
charges leveled against him should be
extolled as a political leader in a
respectable and wholesome nation
building political party. Buruji Kashamu
has been so extolled in PDP in South-
West geo political zone which I
personally find unsavory. Politics
played by any national political party
must have morality, decency,
discipline, principles and leadership
examples as cardinal practices of the
party." Obasanjo wrote
The man in question, Buruji Kashamu, has
responded to Obasanjo's letter. See it
after the cut...
Re: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's letter to
Tukur
My attention has been drawn to yet
another letter written by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo to the National Chairman
of our great party, the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur,
frowning at my allegedly being made the
leader of the party in the South West. He
called me “a wanted habitual criminal…for
whom extradition has been requested by
the US Government…”
Ordinarily, I would not have responded to
his latest cocktail of lies having
sufficiently addressed the same issue in
my response to his letter to the President
only a few weeks ago. However, since he
has shown that he is too embittered to be
assuaged by that response, I am
constrained to do another.
First, it is now clear to all and sundry
that why I have become the target of
Obasanjo’s wicked campaign of calumny
and blackmail is his perceived loss of
political relevance in Ogun State and the
South West. In his 18-page satanic letter
to President Goodluck Jonathan, I was the
other person – indeed the only one (after
the President) – that he singled out for
his venomous attack. But if the truth be
told, I am not the architect of whatever
political woes that he is suffering today.
Like David, I am just a tool in the hands
of the almighty Allah Subhana wa tala. I
am too small to confront a Goliath like him
but for the almighty Allah who is the
supporter of the suppressed and oppressed.
In his usual hypocritical manner, he talked
about not being able to work with me
because of his principles and decency. But
the questions Nigerians should ask him are:
where were these principles when he used
me to fight Gbenga Daniel? Where was his
self-righteousness when I took the party
structure from Daniel and handed it to
Obasanjo? Where was his decency when
he brought Gen. Adetunji Olurin to me and
asked that I should roll my structure
behind his governorship ambition? Where
was his morality when he introduced me to
South West PDP leaders like Engr. Segun
Oni, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (rtd) and a
host of others? Where was his discipline
when he hosted me severally in his Hilltop
mansion, taking me into his bedroom and
innermost recesses? Where was his
decency when he accepted donations from
me to his church and other concerns?
Where was his gumption when he mounted
the rostrum to sing my praises, praying for
me as he did in May 2010 during a
reception for the former Minister of
Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril
Martins-Kuye? I can go on and on!
Let me state from the outset that
contrary to Obasanjo’s claim, I am not the
leader of the party in the South West. I
am just one of the party’s foot soldiers in
the zone and it is in that capacity that I
am made the Chairman of the Organisation
and Mobilisation Committee for the party in
the zone. It is indeed preposterous for
anyone to call me the leader of the party
in a zone that parades political juggernauts
like Chief Olabode George, Alhaji Shuaibu
Oyedokun, Senator Lekan Balogun, Senator
Iyiola Omisore, Senator Teslim Folarin,
Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo, Senator Clement
Awoyelu, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, Senator
Bode Olajumoke and a host of others. All
these leaders know me and can attest to
the fact that I defer to them even when
we disagree a times.
Now, on the issue of my so-called
indictment in the United States, I wish to
state for the umpteenth time that there is
NO request for my extradition for any
offence whatsoever. I recall that in my
earlier response to him, I have challenged
him to produce the request for extradition,
if there is any. Indeed, contrary to his lies
that I am wanted in the United States for
some offences, the purported and over-
flogged case is that of mistaken identity,
for which I had been tried and discharged
after my innocence was established by the
British courts. I am already in court in the
US asking that the earlier accusation (NOT
CONVICTION) against me be quashed. That
process is ongoing.
As to the Nigerian leg of the issue, as I
have often stated, I was the one that
took the Attorney-General of the
Federation (AGF) to court in 2009/2010 to
ask for a judicial pronouncement on the
powers of the AGF under the Extradition
Act when I got information that some of
my political adversaries were pressurising
the AGF to allegedly cause my extradition
on the basis of the mistaken identity case
referred to above.
In fact, in an 11-paragraph affidavit
deposed to by the Office of AGF and
dated 16th September, 2010, it stated
that, “No request for the extradition of the
Applicant was made on the 20th day of
July, 2010 or on any date to the
Respondent or to any Federal Agency by
the United States Government or any other
country…The Respondent or any of its
officers or any agency of the Federal
Government has not received any request
from any country for the extradition of the
Applicant for any offence whatsoever.”
Simply put, the AGF said nobody has asked
that I be surrendered for any offence.
Although the Federal High Court agreed
with him, it went on to order that I could
not be made to face any fresh round of
victimisation, harassment and intimidation
on the basis of the same alleged offence
that I had been exonerated of by the
British courts. This was what the AGF
quarrelled with and decided to appeal. The
appellate court upheld his appeal, saying
the action was “premature”.
Even though my detractors are wont to
twist obvious facts to suit their invidious
motives, I wish to once again avail the
general public of some documents that are
the result of painstaking and thorough
investigations by credible international
organisations, such as the Interpol and the
German Embassy.
The Interpol in a report dated 4th March,
2008, and signed by ACP Haruna H.
Mshelia, stated inter alia “That all our
letters written to Interpol London, Lyon,
Washington and Cotonou relating to
enquiries on criminal/drug/conviction records
of the suspect were returned negative to
the effect that the suspect was never
convicted of such offence in their
territory.”
Following my application for visa, the
German Embassy also wrote that it was
“informed by the U.S. authorities at the
end of August that its search warrant has
been cancelled. As a consequence the
equivalent search warrant of Interpol has
also been withdrawn with immediate
effect.” So with which warrant of arrest
is the U.S supposed to ask for my
extradition, and for which offence?
The British court, as per Lord Justice Pill
and Mr. Justice Bell of the High Court of
Justice, Queen Bench Division, said the
apprehending authorities suppressed
exculpatory evidence and discharged me in
accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of the
European Convention of Human Rights and
Human Rights Act, 1998. The District
Judge Tim Workman in his 2003 judgment
found from the evidence adduced during
the three-year trial that I was not the
person sought by the U.S. authorities and
it was a case of mistaken identity. The
U.S. Judge Norgle, in whose court the
indictment was filed, also held that I am
not a fugitive from justice. I ask again: on
what basis will the US authorities
justifiably request for my extradition?
Furthermore, District Judge Workman also
held that, “As a result of the evidence
that the Defence has placed before me
and the evidence which the Government
has tendered in rebuttal, I find the
following facts: that the defendant has a
brother, who bears a striking resemblance
to that of his. I am satisfied that the
defendant’s brother was one of the co-
conspirators…
“I am however satisfied that the
overwhelming evidence here is such that
the identification evidence, already tenuous,
has now been so undermined as to make it
incredible and valueless. In those
circumstances, there is then no prima facie
case against the defendant and I propose
to discharge him.”
Now, these are the reports and decisions
of credible and well-established
organisations. Yet, some wicked souls take
delight in blackmailing and maligning me,
all in the name of politics. When I was
working with ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel
and empowering PDP members under his
administration with over 700 vehicles,
grants and working tools, I was not called
names. When I started working with ex-
President Olusegun Obasanjo, fighting his
political battles and mobilising for him, I
was not a criminal. But now that he feels
he has lost out in the political equation, he
is raking up worn-out tales.
But pray, what is my offence when all I
am doing, in conjunction with other like
minds, is to champion a new order whereby
our people would be free from the vice-
grip of some self-styled political leaders
who sit in the comfort of their homes to
determine our collective fate, with its
attendant consequences on the development
and growth of the South West zone. They
do not like a bold and courageous challenge
to their outdated and warped style of
leadership. Instead of coming home to work
for the growth of the party, they have
elected to mass around the Presidency
where they go from one office to the
other, blackmailing me and others in order
to protect their “pot of soup”. I am even
told that just like he did to Mujahid
Asari-Dokubo, he has even gone as far as
asking the Beninoise government to frame
me up anytime I visit the country.
Unknown to him, I am inadvertently being
made popular by his acts even when I am
not into any leadership or popularity contest
with anyone. Indeed, my resolve is made
stronger the more Obasanjo and his
associates seek to rubbish me, for as the
French poet Michel de Montaigne said, “We
endeavour that men should speak of us,
than how and what they speak, and it
sufficeth us that our name run in men’s
mouths, in what manner soever…”
For me, the almighty Allah Subhana wa
tala is the giver and taker of life. He is
my shepherd and shield. Even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I shall fear no evil. I hold true to
the inimitable words of Albert Einstein
that “Let every man be respected as an
individual and no man idolised.” That is
why I remain immovable and unshakable in
my firm commitment to the principles I
believe in, no matter the odds.
My mission is to mobilise the mass of the
people, return the party to them and
involve them in decision-making process in
the overall interest of the people of the
South West geo-political zone. And no
amount of blackmail, campaign of calumny
and intimidation will stop me, for as my
people would say, “Ibaje eniyan ko da ise
Oluwa duro” (meaning “man’s slandering of
his fellow man doesn’t stop God’s work in
one’s life”).
Signed
Prince Buruji Kashamu
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