Oyinokor also accused Bode George’s wife, Roli George, who is the Head of the National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) authorizing the raid to garner political points in the upcoming Buhari administration which claims that it will fight corruption.
During an exclusive interview with SaharaTV, Austin Oyinokor, the Media Adviser to Senator-Elect Buruji Kashamu, said that Mr. Kashamu said he wanted to kill himself only to prevent getting arrested.
Senator-Elect Kashamu has been accused by the United States of trafficking drugs through Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in the 1990s, and has placed an extradition order to the Nigerian government for his arrest, according to reports. Mr. Kashamu was held for several years in the United Kingdom on related charges, however he was released. Mr. Kashamu has repeatedly denied any involvement in narcotics trafficking, and has said that no extradition order exists.
In the early morning hours today, the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) surrounded Mr. Kashamu’s Lagos residence, and attempted to breach his front door. Since that period, Mr. Kashamu has barricaded himself in the bedroom of his house--threatening suicide if anyone enters his home.
However, speaking today to SaharaTV his Media Adviser Austin Oyinokor said the threats were “just to show that as a law-abiding citizen, as a responsible man who knows that he has a lot of followers and a lot of people that depended on him. I know that he will not take such an action. He just said it probably to show that he was ready to give anything to ward off any form of illegality.”
Mr. Oyinokor added by saying that, “we hope that all Nigerians and even the international community will prevail these people to...the part of illegality, the part of the rule of law, follow due process. This man is not running to anywhere, he has said it time and again; he is not in hiding; if he was running, they won’t meet him at home. Yesterday he was at work, and he went home like any other person.”
Oyinokor also accused Bode George’s wife, Roli George, who is the Head of the National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) authorizing the raid to garner political points in the upcoming Buhari administration which claims that it will fight corruption.
Oyinokor claimed that the NDLEA siege was illegal because no arrest warrant has been presented.
“Our question is why would the NDLEA come for him [Kashamu] with hooded men and without a warrant of arrest, we felt that there must be a political undertone, we felt that maybe the disagreement we had in the PDP before the last general elections may have necessitated this kind of extrajudicial action because there isn’t any court order and there isn’t a warrant of arrest.”
Oyinikor also said that Kashamu’s spirit is very positive and welcoming the public to hear his side of the story.
“He actually said that I should invite the press, the whole world to come and know what is happening here, that they have come to illegally abduct him; we actually called them [Press], and that they should come report this illegality to the whole world.”
“He is in high spirit; all he is asking for is for the due process of the law to be followed; he is not entertaining any fear at all.”