The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has expelled Buruji Kashamu, a member of the Nigerian Senate from Ogun State.
Three other members of the PDP in Ogun State were also expelled.
Kola Ologbondiyan, the spokesperson of the party, announced the expulsion at the end of an emergency NEC meeting in Abuja on Monday, July 23, 2018.
Senator Kashamu, a supporter of a former national chairman of the PDP, Ali Modu Sheriff, was expelled alongside Bayo Adebayo, Segun Sarki and Sanimu Sodipo. All of the affected members are from Ogun State.
Kashamu is wanted in the United States of America for drug-related offences. He has repeatedly claimed he is innocent and has resisted moves to extradited him.
In January 2017, a United States appeals court has upheld a ruling mandating Buruji Kashamu to face a drug trafficking trial, Chicago Tribune reports.
The ruling meant that Kashamu could extradited from Nigeria to the US to answer to the charges.
The senator representing Ogun East constituency was alleged to have been the ringleader of a ’90s heroin cartel in Chicago, one of the biggest cities in the US.
Senator Buruji Kashamu had in April 2015 asked a district court to put a hold on his “abduction abroad by U.S. authorities”.
U.S. Appellate Court Judge Richard Posner on Monday, January 23, 2017 dismissed the complaint and upheld the ruling of the lower court.
According to the court ruling, the attempt by US agents to arrest Kashamu in coordination with Nigerian authorities cannot be termed “an attempted abduction”.
Although several persons indicted in the case had pleaded guilty, Kashamu maintains that his dead brother was responsible for the crimes he’s being accused of.
Kashamu’s case is the inspiration for the popular Netflix show, Orange is the New Black. The character Kubra Balik embodies his alleged crime history.
Kashamu is a controversial figure in Nigerian politics often at loggerheads with his party members.
