I’m still feeling the trauma caused by NDLEA operatives in our house, says Kashamu’s wife

The siege on Prince Buruji Kashamu’s Lagos home by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) has left a permanent scar on the mind of his wife, Susan, who said she felt traumatised by the heavy presence of officers at their Oladipo Omotosho home in Lekki area of Lagos.
The NDLEA was hell bent on arresting and extraditing Senator Kashamu to the United States of America over drug related case, which the PDP senator claimed to have won some years ago. But the court has given him a reprieve for now by ordering the NDLEA out of the senator’s home.
Mrs Susan Kashamu, who spoke with Hallmark Metro at their residence, explained that the sudden appearance of the operatives in the early hours of May 25, 2015 was frightening because they wereall on black dress covering their faces with mask, making the entire household to believe they were armed robbers who came after the senator.

 
She explained that they forcefully gained entrance into the sitting room of the house after they could not wait for the central door to the sitting room to be opened for them. According to her, they broke the windows downstairs of the building to gain access into the sitting room.
Kashamu stressed that when the operatives gained access to the duplex sitting room upstairs they kept asking after the senator, shouting with a high tone: “Where is Kashamu, where is Kashamu” and she asked them who are they and what do they want? The mother of one stressed that the operatives who were fully armed said they came to pick up Buruji Kashamu in order to extradite him to the United States over his involvement in a drug deal, adding that she is still traumatised by their display of brigandage.

 
“They came with no arrest warrant; they were in black dress covering their faces with mask. They did not identify themselves until some of them shouted they were on national assignment from the NDLEA. I won’t lie to you, it was a very bad experience of my life”, said Mrs Kashamu
Kashamu, who told Hallmark Metro that her freedom of movement was infringed upon by the operatives, said that as the operatives gained access they did not allow anybody to either go out or come. She explained that the NDLEA operatives used drilling machine to destroy virtually all the doors in order to gain access to any of the rooms.

 
She added that when the family members saw the operatives they were scared because of their appearance as they were with guns, adding that several of the operatives were stationed in and around the building.
“When they broke into the building we were scared because of their appearance and because they were with guns. They finally got into the house. Another thing that made us scared was that there was no man in the house that may come to our rescue as at that time. When they came in and were shouting where is Mr Kashamu we did not say anything because we did not know who they were because they were putting on all black but later as time went on we saw them with a jacket carrying the label NDLEA that was when we now know they were NDLEA operatives”, said Kashamu
“We thank the media, the civil society organisations who quickly intervened in this matter. Whatever happened we just want to thank God because right now I have come back to my real self. As you can see, we are trying to get things back to normal because in the few days they stayed in this house they scattered and destroyed many things which we need to put in order. It was a tragic experience which nobody would want to experience in his or her life”, said Kashamu

 
Narrating her ordeal further, she stressed that as at the time when the NDLEA operatives condoned off the house her child was not allowed to attend school because nobody was allowed out of the building.
Kashamu, who is yet to regain herself psychologically, stated that they were able to give Prince BurujiKashamu his food through pure water sachets and transferred through a narrow space to him in the toilet where he kept himself for safety.
“I thank God for sparing his life and keeping us alive as well because it was not a good experience”, said Kashamu
One of Prince Buruji Kashamu’s close aide and younger brother, who took Hallmark Metro round the building, Mr Alaba Kashamu, stated that the NDLEA operatives went beyond their constitutional boundary by trying to assault him as they said he would be arrested as they have been instructed from above to arrest him.
“I then asked them why I would be arrested. It was later they became a little friendly with us because we have been giving them food to survive eversince they came into the house”, said Kashamu’s younger brother.
The Kashamu family, however, want President Muhammadu Buhari to re-orientate the security agencies most especially the NDLEA on their role and how they need to be operating in a civil way, adding that they believe it is only God almighty that would justify who is after Prince Buruji Kashamu.