A human rights group, Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate, has called on security agencies to arrest Senator Buruji Kashamu for threatening public peace.
The rights group said it was shocked by the senator’s statement on Sunday, to the intent that people would die before he could be extradited to the United States to face trial.
“We condemn in strong terms the inciting, irresponsible, barbaric, ‘unparliamentary’ statement and threats to national peace and security credited to Senator Buruji Kashamu, over his indictment for drug-related offences by the US appeal court and the order for his extradition to face trial,” a statement issued on Monday by CPPM’s Executive Chairman, Nelson Ekujumi, said.
Kashamu on Sunday had said, “One has to kill one, because I am not ready to go anywhere. Before that happens, maybe about three, four or five people will die.”
He also vowed that any attempt to “abduct” him by the US government would be met with violence; adding that he planned to engage the services of members of the Oodua Peoples Congress for protection.
The CPPM pointed out that Kashamu’s public outburst was provocative and unbecoming of a senator of the federal republic.
Ekujumi noted that the senator’s action was a denigration and an attempt to intimidate the law enforcement agencies from discharging their constitutional duties, as well as an assault on the Nigerian Constitution.
“If Senator Buruji Kashamu, who is a member of our highest lawmaking institution, the Senate, feels strongly about a judgment of the court, whether in Nigeria or in any part of the world, one would have expected him, as a custodian of the legitimate mandate of the Nigerian people, to be civil, responsible and sensitive to explore civilised means of seeking redress, rather than threatening public peace by threats of violence.
“Therefore, we call on the leadership of the Senate to immediately summon Senator Buruji Kashamu to appear before the appropriate committee for acts unbecoming of a senator, and for bringing the image of the National Assembly into disrepute.
“We equally call for his immediate arrest,” Ekujumi said.
PUNCH
