Politics
Buruji Kashamu @ 62: Always In Battle
By Chuks Ekpeneru
The bane of Senator Buruji Kashamu’s problem has been his claim of mistaken identity. To wit, that he has been mistaken for his look-alike brother who was at the centre of a heroin trade ring in the Chicago area of the United States.
The problem with the claim is that the brother is dead and there are no particulars to reconcile the senator’s claim. The option offered him to defend himself in U.S. courts has been repeatedly shunned by the influential Peoples Democratic Party, PDP chieftain.
Idolized by so many party partisans because of the immense amount of money he is able to throw around, he came to be recognized at one point as the financier of the PDP.
His relationships in the PDP have been largely stormy as he has traversed courts to assert his supremacy where his money became ineffectual.
However, with so much money at his disposal, the problem for Senator Kashamu is that he is virtually tied down in Nigeria. He hurriedly left the United Kingdom after the United States Justice Department failed in an initial attempt to extradite him after five years in jail.
His relationships in the PDP have been largely stormy as he has traversed courts to assert his supremacy where his money became ineffectual.
He was a major force in the crisis that enveloped the party during the era of Senator Modu Ali Sheriff.
Buruji was born on 19 May 1958 and started his education at Ansarudeen Primary School, Ijebu Igbo. In 1972 he left to complete his primary school education at St. John Modern School, Lagos.
He then attended evening classes at Igbobi College while working as a licensing agent. He later went to London where he took courses in Business Management at Pitman College, London.
Following his return to Nigeria after the British refused to extradite him to the United States, he quickly delved into politics.
He was appointed as the chairman, Organization and Mobilization Committee of the PDP in the Southwest zone of Nigeria. In 2015 he was elected to the Senate and in 2019 he teamed with popular newspaper columnist Dr. Ruben Abati to run for the governorship of Ogun State.
Kashamu would always sleep with one eye closed not knowing when the Americans would make a move
Buruji was expelled from the PDP but had the expulsion voided by an Abuja High Court in October 2018.
Since Senator Kashamu landed in the Ogun State chapter of the PDP, the party has indeed not had a kind of harmony. Even if he succeeds in quieting the political battles, Kashamu would always sleep with one eye closed not knowing when the Americans would make a move.
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