A Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday awarded
cost in the sum of N20,000 against the National Drug
Law Enforcement Agency for stalling proceedings in a
fresh case filed against the agency by Senator Buruji
Kashamu.
The sanction imposed by Justice Ibrahim Buba followed
request for adjournment by the NDLEA to enable it to
regularise a blunder in the defence it filed against
Kashamu’s claims in the said suit.
Kashamu is seeking an order of perpetual injunction
restraining the NDLEA and the Attorney-General of the
Federation from seizing his property.
He filed the suit following the failed effort by the
NDLEA to extradite Kashamu to the United States of
America, where he is said to be wanted for alleged
drug-trafficking offences.
At the resumed proceedings on Wednesday, Kashamu’s
counsel, Ifeoma Esom, said the suit was ripe for
hearing and that she was ready to go on.
But the NDLEA, which is challenging the jurisdiction of
the court to entertain the case and seeking the
disqualification of Justice Buba from the suit for fear
of bias, told the court that it had discovered a flaw in
its defence, which needed to be amended before the
case could go one.
Counsel for the NDLEA said though he did not intend
to delay hearing of the case but he needed a short
adjournment to enable him to regularise the processes.
“The applicant has already tied our hands with the
order. We have no reason to delay this matter,” he
said.
But in granting the requested adjournment till October
22, 2015, the judge awarded a cost of N20,000
against the agency “to rectify the blunders in its
processes.”
The judge, however, said he observed that the NDLEA
seemed to be seeking for two contradictory reliefs, by
asking him to vacate an earlier interim injunction
granted Kashamu and also asking the judge to
disqualify himself.
“The two cannot go together. I cannot vacate the order
and at the same disqualify myself,” Justice Buba
said.
Kashamu had headed for court claiming to have got
winds of the moves by the NDLEA and the AGF to
seize or take over his properties, including a 24-flat
housing estate at Egbe and several hectares of land on
Lekki Peninsular, Lagos, worth over N20bn.
He claimed to have acquired the properties by dint of
hard work and legitimate business as opposed to the
respondents’ allegation that the properties were
acquired with proceeds of drug-trafficking.
His lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, claimed that allowing
the respondents to seize Kashamu’s property would
occasion a breach of his fundamental right to own
property as provided under section 43 and 44 of the
Constitution.
Justice Buba had, by an interim injunction dated June
29, 2015, restrained the respondents and their privies
from interfering with Kashamu’s right to own property
either in Nigeria or anywhere else, pending the
determination of the main suit.
But the NDLEA is contending that the restraining
injunction was granted against public policy, adding
that it amounted to tying the hands of Federal
Government agencies from discharging their legitimate
mandate.
The anti-narcotics agency also asked Buba to
disqualify himself from the case, saying it was afraid
that since Buba had adjudicated over Kashamu’s
previous cases and gave judgment, it might be
impossible for him to reach a different conclusion in
the fresh case, which stemmed from the earlier case.
On his own part, the AGF also filed a preliminary
objection, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear
Kashamu’s suit.
cost in the sum of N20,000 against the National Drug
Law Enforcement Agency for stalling proceedings in a
fresh case filed against the agency by Senator Buruji
Kashamu.
The sanction imposed by Justice Ibrahim Buba followed
request for adjournment by the NDLEA to enable it to
regularise a blunder in the defence it filed against
Kashamu’s claims in the said suit.
Kashamu is seeking an order of perpetual injunction
restraining the NDLEA and the Attorney-General of the
Federation from seizing his property.
He filed the suit following the failed effort by the
NDLEA to extradite Kashamu to the United States of
America, where he is said to be wanted for alleged
drug-trafficking offences.
At the resumed proceedings on Wednesday, Kashamu’s
counsel, Ifeoma Esom, said the suit was ripe for
hearing and that she was ready to go on.
But the NDLEA, which is challenging the jurisdiction of
the court to entertain the case and seeking the
disqualification of Justice Buba from the suit for fear
of bias, told the court that it had discovered a flaw in
its defence, which needed to be amended before the
case could go one.
Counsel for the NDLEA said though he did not intend
to delay hearing of the case but he needed a short
adjournment to enable him to regularise the processes.
“The applicant has already tied our hands with the
order. We have no reason to delay this matter,” he
said.
But in granting the requested adjournment till October
22, 2015, the judge awarded a cost of N20,000
against the agency “to rectify the blunders in its
processes.”
The judge, however, said he observed that the NDLEA
seemed to be seeking for two contradictory reliefs, by
asking him to vacate an earlier interim injunction
granted Kashamu and also asking the judge to
disqualify himself.
“The two cannot go together. I cannot vacate the order
and at the same disqualify myself,” Justice Buba
said.
Kashamu had headed for court claiming to have got
winds of the moves by the NDLEA and the AGF to
seize or take over his properties, including a 24-flat
housing estate at Egbe and several hectares of land on
Lekki Peninsular, Lagos, worth over N20bn.
He claimed to have acquired the properties by dint of
hard work and legitimate business as opposed to the
respondents’ allegation that the properties were
acquired with proceeds of drug-trafficking.
His lawyer, Mr. Ajibola Oluyede, claimed that allowing
the respondents to seize Kashamu’s property would
occasion a breach of his fundamental right to own
property as provided under section 43 and 44 of the
Constitution.
Justice Buba had, by an interim injunction dated June
29, 2015, restrained the respondents and their privies
from interfering with Kashamu’s right to own property
either in Nigeria or anywhere else, pending the
determination of the main suit.
But the NDLEA is contending that the restraining
injunction was granted against public policy, adding
that it amounted to tying the hands of Federal
Government agencies from discharging their legitimate
mandate.
The anti-narcotics agency also asked Buba to
disqualify himself from the case, saying it was afraid
that since Buba had adjudicated over Kashamu’s
previous cases and gave judgment, it might be
impossible for him to reach a different conclusion in
the fresh case, which stemmed from the earlier case.
On his own part, the AGF also filed a preliminary
objection, challenging the court’s jurisdiction to hear
Kashamu’s suit.
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