The story of Abba Kyari, Deputy Commissioner of Police and erstwhile head of the Nigerian Police Intelligence Response Team, is that of a man who is in a gradual but headlong fall from grace to disgrace. All this week the story of his run-in with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) was trending.
Last year, the Borno-State born police officer ran into trouble with the law, was suspended from the force and relieved from all police duties for allegedly helping convicted internationally- acclaimed fraudster, Ramon Abbas, also known as Hushpuppi, to launder money in America.
Amidst calls for his extradition to answer charges in the U.S, he’s been battling to prove his innocence.
Before now, Kyari had a reputation of being a “super cop” who investigated big criminal cases. He received a presidential medal of courage from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 after his team rescued three kidnapped schoolgirls in Lagos.
He was also honoured by the Lagos State government thrice with awards for gallantry between 2011 and 2013. He is known to have cracked difficult crime cases and burst several notorious criminal gangs across the country.
But in a bizarre twist , the hunter became the hunted – accused of trying to recruit fellow officers into a drug plot. In fact, investigations are ongoing to establish if truly he belongs to an international drugs cartel, authorities say.
Trouble started for Kyari last year, July 29 to be precise, when Hushpuppi, who is now convicted and awaiting sentencing in the U.S, on charges of money laundering leveled against him by the United States government, implicated him as playing some roles in an international plot to defraud a Qatari school founder. The allegation also involved the laundering of over $1.1 million in illicit proceeds.
According to court proceedings and documented evidence, a dispute among members of the crime syndicate saw Hushpuppi arranging with Kyari for one Vincent to be arrested and jailed in Nigeria. It was also established that he allegedly sent Abbas account details into which he could make payment for Vincent’s arrests and imprisonment.
Indications also emerged during the trial that Kyari allegedly travelled to Dubai at the invitation of Hushpuppi and was treated to a good time with airport pickup, luxury hotel accommodation and city tour on the bill of the notorious fraudster. Of course, the embattled DCP denied most of the allegations via his social media handles and in statements made to the various panels investigating him.
The United States Department of Justice reportedly issued a warrant of arrest and a request for Kyari’s extradition. The IGP, however, suspended him pending the report from the committee in charge of investigation.
In December 2021, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, submitted the probe panel report on Kyari to the Police Service Commission. But few weeks back, the Commission found loopholes in the report and sent it back to IGP Usman Alkali Baba for further investigation and clarity with regards to the specific indictments pointed out by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
On 14th February 2022, with Kyari’s fate still uncertain following the Commission’s decision on the report of the panel that investigated him over allegations made by Hushpuppi and the U.S court, a video clip of the suspended IRT Commander surfaced on social media where he was apparently negotiating the release of 25kg seized cocaine, offering $61, 400 in cash.
Last Monday, hours after the NDLEA declared him wanted on suspicion of being “a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline,” Kyari was arrested alongside four other officers namely Sunday Ubuah, Bawa James, Simon Agrigba and John Nuhu , while one other officer, John Umoru, remained “at large”.
With the NDLEA accusing Kyari of allegedly claiming that he and his team had intercepted and arrested traffickers entering Nigeria from Ethiopia with 25kg of cocaine and asking an unnamed narcotic officer to be part of a plot to sell off part of the seized drug and replace with dummies, Nigerians are waiting eagerly to hear what the erstwhile celebrated cop, who is a member of International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), have to say in his defense this time.
Nigerians would be particularly keen to know what he has to say about being captured on video and audio engaging in a criminal transaction. Perhaps it was also photoshopped and the footage cloned by mischief-makers!
