I didn’t say Kashamu should be jailed — Ben Bruce

Senator Ben Bruce, who is representing Bayelsa East constituency in Bayelsa State, on Friday denied saying that a fellow senator, Buruji Kashamu, should have been jailed.

A tweet on Bruce’s Twitter handle, which seemed to be reacting to a report shared by his colleague on his own handle, said, “See my colleague (in the) senate who is supposed to be in jail talking.”

Kashamu had earlier shared a newspaper link to a report titled: “Germany to support Nigeria on anti-terrorism, corruption.”

However, about four hours later, Bruce denied the tweet that supposedly said Kashamu should have been jailed, saying, “This tweet was just brought to my knowledge and the screenshot says it all. The account in question is an impersonator.”


Kashamu is wanted in the United States for alleged drug-related offences.

Meanwhile, Bruce has called on the Federal Government to learn from the United Arab Emirates by giving youths ministerial appointments.

Bruce, in a tweet on Friday, said, “Nigerian leaders love travelling to Dubai. Let them learn from Dubai that youths are leaders of today, not tomorrow.”

In another tweet, Bruce said, “We can make all our ministers of state youths and make senior citizens the senior ministers.”

President of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had during the week, approved a new cabinet for his government, which includes 22-year-old Shamma Al Mazrui as the Minister of State for Youth Affairs.

Al Nahyan’s new government includes eight new ministers, five of whom are women, while the average age of the new ministers is 38 years.