Kashamu Replies Obasanjo…Says You Have Lost Power In South West

One of PDP’s stakeholders in Ogun State, Prince Buruji
Kashamu has replied General Obasanjo’s letter. Kashamu also stated that he is
not wanted in the US and Obasanjo has lost power in the South West. Find his
letter below.

RE: CHIEF OLUSEGUN OBASANJO’S LETTER TO TUKUR

My attention has been drawn to yet another letter written by
former President Olusegun Obasanjo to the National Chairman of our great party,
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, frowning at my
allegedly being made the leader of the party in the South West. He called me “a
wanted habitual criminal…for whom extradition has been requested by the US
Government…”

Ordinarily, I would not have responded to his latest
cocktail of lies having sufficiently addressed the same issue in my response to
his letter to the President only a few weeks ago. However, since he has shown
that he is too embittered to be assuaged by that response, I am constrained to
do another.

First, it is now clear to all and sundry that why I have
become the target of Obasanjo’s wicked campaign of calumny and blackmail is his
perceived loss of political relevance in Ogun State and the South West. In his
18-page satanic letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, I was the other person –
indeed the only one (after the President) – that he singled out for his
venomous attack. But if the truth be told, I am not the architect of whatever
political woes that he is suffering today. Like David, I am just a tool in the
hands of the almighty Allah Subhana wa tala. I am too small to confront a
Goliath like him but for the almighty Allah who is the supporter of the
suppressed and oppressed.

In his usual hypocritical manner, he talked about not being
able to work with me because of his principles and decency. But the questions
Nigerians should ask him are: where were these principles when he used me to
fight Gbenga Daniel? Where was his self-righteousness when I took the party
structure from Daniel and handed it to Obasanjo? Where was his decency when he
brought Gen. Adetunji Olurin to me and asked that I should roll my structure
behind his governorship ambition? Where was his morality when he introduced me
to South West PDP leaders like Engr. Segun Oni, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade
(rtd) and a host of others? Where was his discipline when he hosted me
severally in his Hilltop mansion, taking me into his bedroom and innermost
recesses? Where was his decency when he accepted donations from me to his
church and other concerns? Where was his gumption when he mounted the rostrum
to sing my praises, praying for me as he did in May 2010 during a reception for
the former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye? I
can go on and on!

Let me state from the outset that contrary to Obasanjo’s
claim, I am not the leader of the party in the South West. I am just one of the
party’s foot soldiers in the zone and it is in that capacity that I am made the
Chairman of the Organisation and Mobilisation Committee for the party in the
zone. It is indeed preposterous for anyone to call me the leader of the party
in a zone that parades political juggernauts like Chief Olabode George, Alhaji
Shuaibu Oyedokun, Senator Lekan Balogun, Senator Iyiola Omisore, Senator Teslim
Folarin, Alhaji Yekeen Adeojo, Senator Clement Awoyelu, Mr. Ayodele Fayose,
Senator Bode Olajumoke and a host of others. All these leaders know me and can
attest to the fact that I defer to them even when we disagree a times.

Now, on the issue of my so-called indictment in the United
States, I wish to state for the umpteenth time that there is NO request for my
extradition for any offence whatsoever. I recall that in my earlier response to
him, I have challenged him to produce the request for extradition, if there is
any. Indeed, contrary to his lies that I am wanted in the United States for
some offences, the purported and over-flogged case is that of mistaken
identity, for which I had been tried and discharged after my innocence was
established by the British courts. I am already in court in the US asking that
the earlier accusation (NOT CONVICTION) against me be quashed. That process is
ongoing.

As to the Nigerian leg of the issue, as I have often stated,
I was the one that took the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to court
in 2009/2010 to ask for a judicial pronouncement on the powers of the AGF under
the Extradition Act when I got information that some of my political adversaries
were pressurising the AGF to allegedly cause my extradition on the basis of the
mistaken identity case referred to above.

In fact, in an 11-paragraph affidavit deposed to by the
Office of AGF and dated 16th September, 2010, it stated that, “No request for
the extradition of the Applicant was made on the 20th day of July, 2010 or on
any date to the Respondent or to any Federal Agency by the United States
Government or any other country…The Respondent or any of its officers or any
agency of the Federal Government has not received any request from any country
for the extradition of the Applicant for any offence whatsoever.”

Simply put, the AGF said nobody has asked that I be
surrendered for any offence. Although the Federal High Court agreed with him,
it went on to order that I could not be made to face any fresh round of
victimisation, harassment and intimidation on the basis of the same alleged
offence that I had been exonerated of by the British courts. This was what the
AGF quarrelled with and decided to appeal. The appellate court upheld his
appeal, saying the action was “premature”.

Even though my detractors are wont to twist obvious facts to
suit their invidious motives, I wish to once again avail the general public of
some documents that are the result of painstaking and thorough investigations
by credible international organisations, such as the Interpol and the German
Embassy.

The Interpol in a report dated 4th March, 2008, and signed
by ACP Haruna H. Mshelia, stated inter alia “That all our letters written to
Interpol London, Lyon, Washington and Cotonou relating to enquiries on
criminal/drug/conviction records of the suspect were returned negative to the
effect that the suspect was never convicted of such offence in their
territory.”

Following my application for visa, the German Embassy also
wrote that it was “informed by the U.S. authorities at the end of August that
its search warrant has been cancelled. As a consequence the equivalent search
warrant of Interpol has also been withdrawn with immediate effect.” So with
which warrant of arrest is the U.S supposed to ask for my extradition, and for
which offence?

The British court, as per Lord Justice Pill and Mr. Justice
Bell of the High Court of Justice, Queen Bench Division, said the apprehending
authorities suppressed exculpatory evidence and discharged me in accordance
with Articles 5 and 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Human
Rights Act, 1998. The District Judge Tim Workman in his 2003 judgment found
from the evidence adduced during the three-year trial that I was not the person
sought by the U.S. authorities and it was a case of mistaken identity. The U.S.
Judge Norgle, in whose court the indictment was filed, also held that I am not
a fugitive from justice. I ask again: on what basis will the US authorities
justifiably request for my extradition?

Furthermore, District Judge Workman also held that, “As a
result of the evidence that the Defence has placed before me and the evidence
which the Government has tendered in rebuttal, I find the following facts: that
the defendant has a brother, who bears a striking resemblance to that of his. I
am satisfied that the defendant’s brother was one of the co-conspirators…

“I am however satisfied that the overwhelming evidence here
is such that the identification evidence, already tenuous, has now been so
undermined as to make it incredible and valueless. In those circumstances,
there is then no prima facie case against the defendant and I propose to
discharge him.”

Now, these are the reports and decisions of credible and
well-established organisations. Yet, some wicked souls take delight in
blackmailing and maligning me, all in the name of politics. When I was working
with ex-Governor Gbenga Daniel and empowering PDP members under his
administration with over 700 vehicles, grants and working tools, I was not
called names. When I started working with ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo,
fighting his political battles and mobilising for him, I was not a criminal.
But now that he feels he has lost out in the political equation, he is raking
up worn-out tales.

But pray, what is my offence when all I am doing, in
conjunction with other like minds, is to champion a new order whereby our
people would be free from the vice-grip of some self-styled political leaders who
sit in the comfort of their homes to determine our collective fate, with its
attendant consequences on the development and growth of the South West zone.
They do not like a bold and courageous challenge to their outdated and warped
style of leadership. Instead of coming home to work for the growth of the
party, they have elected to mass around the Presidency where they go from one
office to the other, blackmailing me and others in order to protect their “pot
of soup”. I am even told that just like he did to Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, he has
even gone as far as asking the Beninoise government to frame me up anytime I
visit the country.

Unknown to him, I am inadvertently being made popular by his
acts even when I am not into any leadership or popularity contest with anyone.
Indeed, my resolve is made stronger the more Obasanjo and his associates seek
to rubbish me, for as the French poet Michel de Montaigne said, “We endeavour
that men should speak of us, than how and what they speak, and it sufficeth us
that our name run in men’s mouths, in what manner soever…”

For me, the almighty Allah Subhana wa tala is the giver and
taker of life. He is my shepherd and shield. Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. I hold true to the
inimitable words of Albert Einstein that “Let every man be respected as an
individual and no man idolised.” That is why I remain immovable and unshakable
in my firm commitment to the principles I believe in, no matter the odds.

My mission is to mobilise the mass of the people, return the
party to them and involve them in decision-making process in the overall
interest of the people of the South West geo-political zone. And no amount of
blackmail, campaign of calumny and intimidation will stop me, for as my people
would say, “Ibaje eniyan ko da ise Oluwa duro” (meaning “man’s slandering of
his fellow man doesn’t stop God’s work in one’s life”).

Signed

Prince Buruji Kashamu