Senator-elect reportedly indicted in 1998 for drug deal in US

monjola sotubo

April 16, 2015 5:58 PM

Kashamu, who won the Ogun East Senatorial District seat in the March 28 elections, was said to have been smuggling heroin when he was caught, according to The Associated Press.

Prince Buruji Kashamu

Senator-elect, Buruji Kashamu was reportedly indicted in 1998 for drug dealing in the United States of America.

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo has described Kashamu as a wanted drug baron, an allegation for which he is currently embroiled in a libel suit.

AP also linked Kashamu with the hit TV series "Orange Is The New Black," saying that a court case in which he was involved was the basis for the story.

The AP report reads:

“Buruji Kashamu was little known before he returned home in 2003 from Britain despite a U.S. extradition order to become a major financier of President Goodluck Jonathan's party.”

“Kashamu, 56, hung up the phone twice when the AP called for comment about the drug case on Thursday. Kashamu has said he is "a clean businessman" and that the 1998 indictment by a grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiracy to import and distribute heroin in the United States is a case of mistaken identity. He has said Chicago prosecutors really want the dead brother he closely resembles.”

“A dozen people were long ago tried and jailed in the case, including American Piper Kerman, whose memoir about her jail time became the Netflix hit "Orange Is The New Black." Kerman's book never identified Kashamu by name, but there is a West African drug kingpin whom she calls "Alhaji," meaning one who has completed the haj or pilgrimage to Mecca.”

According to AP, a Nigerian court has ordered Kashamu’s extradition but the country’s government has not granted the order.

monjola sotubo