The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has asked a Federal High Court (FHC) in Lagos to throw out the suit filed by Senator Buruji Kashamu to stop security agencies from extraditing him to the United States (US) for drug related offences.

The senator in the suit tagged FHC/L/CS/930/2018 sued the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Lagos state commissioner of police (CP), NDLEA and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), as he asked the court to stop them from investigating him or tampering with his personal freedom.

Kashamu said this to protest the invitation the NDLEA sent to the US to ask for his extradition, while also asking the judge, Chukwujekwu Aneke, to put a stop to any attempt by all the respondents to restrict his movement and declare such attempt as a breach of his personal freedom as contained in the section 35 of the constitution and article 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).

NDLEA, through its lawyers, J N Sunday and Ichakpa Ogoga, filed an objection to declare Kashamu’s suit as insufficient as it does not show how its personal rights and freedom were threatened. Also, in an affidavit, NDLEA said that the US authorities had in 2015 sought for Kashamu’s extradition on charges relating to drug trafficking.

NDLEA also stated that the senator had filed several lawsuits since he knew about the extradition so he could stop it. The suits were under the case tags of FHC/L/CS/508/14, FHC/L/CS 508/2015, FHC/L/CS/763/2015 and FHC/L/CS/479/2015.

The case was therefore postponed till Tuesday, March 5, following NDLEA’s objection to stop Kashamu’s suit. However, the IGP, CP and AGF were not represented because they were not served any hearing notice.