NewsPoliticsFalana Says Obasanjo is Hypocritical for Speaking Against Kashamu

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said there was nothing wrong with former President Obasanjo speaking ill of the late Senator Buruji Kashamu. Falana wrote in an article titled: ‘Matters arising from Chief Obasanjo’s Condolence Letter’, that the hypocrisy of the former President’s message that should be criticised. “Some people have said that it is against the African culture to speak ill of the dead. That is far from the truth. In the past, Africans spoke ill of the dead and exposed the dead and exposed the dead and exposed the dead if they were found to have engaged in abominable activities that brought shame to a community. “In fact, the bodies of dead men and women who were found to have brought pestilence to a community were buried in the bush,” Falana wrote. “Therefore, Chief Obasanjo has not abused the African culture by attacking the late Senator Buruji Kashamu for allegedly manipulating the law to escape justice at home and abroad. “However, it is the hypocrisy of his message that should be criticised because it is against the African culture to aid and abet a criminal suspect in his lifetime only to turn round to attack him in his grave.” Falana said that the evidence given by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) under President Obasanjo in 2003, in favour of Kashamu at an extradition case in the United Kingdom, enabled the late Senator to be cleared of drug charges and the extradition request by the United States was dismissed. “Thereafter, Kashamu returned to the country as a free man and was admitted to the PDP as full-fledged member. He funded the party and became a political leader. “The national leadership of the party acknowledged Kashamu’s immense financial contributions to the PDP. In 2014, as a result of political disagreements in the Ogun State chapter of the PDP to stop extolling Kashamu as a political leader because he was ‘a habitual criminal wanted abroad to face criminal charges levelled against him…’” “But following the resolution of the intra party feud, Chief Obasanjo mounted the rostrum in Ogun State, extolled Kashamu as a political leader and prayed to the Almighty God to reward him for his generosity,” Falana stated.