Submit Yourself For Investigation Over Attempted Adebutu’s Murder, Court Orders Kashamu

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday ordered the senator representing Ogun-East senatorial district, Buruji Kashamu, to submit himself to the police for investigation into an alleged attempt to murder a member of the House of Representatives representing Ikene/Shagamu/Remo-North Federal Constituency, Oladipupo Adebutu. Delivering judgment in a suit instituted by Kashamu, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba ordered that the senator must honour all invitations by the Special Investigating Panel set up by the Inspector-General of Police to investigate the allegations contained in Adebutu’s petition. Justice Dimgba, who rejected all the principal prayers of the plaintiff, noted that the senator was duty-bound to appear before the police panel which is also investigating the senator’s counter-petition against Adebutu.

But the judge ruled that any attempt by security agencies, particularly the police and the Department of State Services to capitalise on the said investigation by arresting the senator, incarcerating him and transporting him to the United States of America to face illicit drugs charges would be unlawful. Adebutu had alleged in his petition dated August 22, 2017 and addressed to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, that the senator had, along with some thugs, made an attempt to murder him during the Peoples Democratic Party’s convention held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on August 16, 2016. But in response, Kashamu wrote a counter-petition dated August 26, 2016 to the IGP alleging that Adebutu was instigating the police and the DSS to abduct and transport him to the US in relation to illicit drugs charges he had been cleared of, adding that the alleged move was in violation of the court orders stopping him from being extradited. Kashamu then proceeded to file his suit seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the police and the DSS from acting upon Adebutu’s ‘politically-motivated petition’. He wanted the court to perpetually restrain the two respondents from ‘conniving with or assisting’ Adebutu or any other person ‘to arrest, detain and forcibly transport him to the USA’ to face charges which he said he had been exonerated from. He wanted the court to order that his planned transportation to the US was in breach of the orders of the court in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/49/2010 and Suit No: FHC/L/CS/508/2015”.

In his judgment on Thursday, Justice Dimgba ruled that while Kashamu’s apprehension informing the decision to institute the suit might be reasonable, it was overstated and misconceived. The judge stated, “To start with, from a review of Exhibits APP1 to APP9 and paragraphs of the supporting affidavit which chronicle the experience of the applicant on some criminal allegations from US authorities, and the campaign to extradite him to the United States, there is no doubt that the applicant has a genuine and reasonable apprehension about his forceful removal to the United States. “Therefore, a legal action such as this from the applicant for pre-emptive orders against the respondents to prevent his removal to the United States happening seems overtly justified. “But whatever might have been the experience of the applicant in the past, I believe that as far as the circumstances surrounding the present case are concerned, this apprehension appears overstated and slight misconceived.”