Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, commiserated with the Governor and people of Ogun State on the death of an ex-lawmaker, Senator Buruji Kashamu.
In a condolence message titled ‘Letter of Condolence’, addressed to the state governor, Dr Dapo Abiodun, Obasanjo said, “I received the sad news of the demise of Senator Esho Jinadu (Buruji Kashamu), a significant citizen of Ogun State. Please accept my condolences and that of my family on this irreparable loss”.
He described as sad the death of the former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019 election in Ogun State, who died of coronavirus complications on Saturday.
In a statement by his spokesperson, Kehinde Akinyemi, Obasanjo said Kashamu’s life and history left “lessons for those of all of us on this side of the veil”.
He said, “Senator Buruji Kashamu in his lifetime used the manoeuvre of law and politics to escape from facing justice on the alleged criminal offence in Nigeria and outside Nigeria”.
“But no legal, political, cultural, social, or even medical manoeuvre can stop the cold hands of death when the Creator of all of us decides that the time is up”.
In 2015, there was a stand-off at Sen Kashamu’s residence after operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) attempted to arrest him for extradition to the US.
He challenged the attempt to have him extradited in court until his death at the age of 62.
While responding to one of the attacks the ex-president launched against him, Kashamu had said Obasanjo hated him because he rendered the former president irrelevant.
He, however, added that Kashamu allegedly used the instruments of law and politics to evade justice.
Obasanjo had in 2014 resigned his membership of the party when he wrote to the then Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, that he would cease to be a member of the party unless the party dissociated itself from Kashamu, who appeared to be the leader of the party in Ogun State.
Obasanjo and Kashamu had a long-running battle till the death of the former senator.
Comments