Court quashes warrant of arrest against Kashamu

JUSTICE Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has nullified the provisional warrant of arrest secured by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at an Abuja High Court in its quest to extradite the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator-elect for Ogun East Senatorial District, Mr. Buruji Kashamu.

The judge quashed the warrant while ruling on an application filed by Kashamu seeking for the enforcement of an earlier judgment of the court halting further action against him.

The Senator-elect had filed an action seeking to enforce his fundamental rights.

Justice Abang, who declared that until the judgment of the court is appealed against and set aside by the Court of Appeal, no extradition proceedings could commence against Kashamu, further held that the provisional warrant of arrest was obtained by the defendant because the judge’s attention was not drawn to the existing order barring NDLEA and the AGF from taking any further step on the extradition process.

The court further declared the proceedings at the Abuja High Court a nullity.

Justice Abang also overruled the preliminary objections raised by the NDLEA and the AGF.

The objections raised are to the extent that the application is an abuse of court’s process, the court has no function to perform again since judgment had been delivered and that there was no personal service of the application on the NDLEA Chairman, Ahmadu Giade.