Senator Samuel Anyan­wu-led Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, has cau­tioned the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) against any act of illegality that could lead to the alleged abduction and extradition of Senator Bu­ruji Kashamu to the United States of America.
The committee chairman, who gave the directive yes­terday, while debating a pe­tition forwarded to it by the senator, who was physically present at the venue of the hearing, in company with his lawyer, said the extradi­tion plans were unlawful.
Last year, the NDLEA, through its spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju noted that it still had plans to ar­rest and extradite Kashamu to the United States to face drug charges.
The NDLEA had also said then that it was simply obeying the court orders, which forbade it from ar­resting Kashamu but that it would still pursue the case to its legal conclusion.
But appearing before the panel, accompanied by his counsel, Ajibola Oluyede, Kashamu alleged that the plan was to adopt and ex­tradite him with the conniv­ance of NDLEA officials.
Chairman of the com­mittee, Senator Anyanwu, while reacting, mandated the NDLEA to maintain status quo on the issue, pending the outcome of Senate panel’s ongoing in­vestigation.
In a related develop­ment, Senate Committee on Trade and Investment, yesterday, queried N275 million hidden under the overhead on Infrastructure Development in the 2016 Budget of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It also kicked against N83 mil­lion allocated to meals and refreshment by the Stan­dards Organisation of Ni­geria (SON).
Chairman of the com­mittee, Senator Sam Egwu further probed the ratio­nale behind the N100 mil­lion allocated for oversea monitoring and evaluation by the same ministry, say­ing the figures presented by the ministry were over bloated.