Embattled Abba Kyari files suit challenging arrest, detention by NDLEA

Suspended DCP Abba Kyari has filed a suit at the Federal High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Abuja, challenging his arrest and continued detention by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

The suit filed against the Federal Government was marked FHC/ABJ/CS/182/22 and is before the court of Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo.

Kyari who is also under detention, in the suit is seeking an order of the court to immediately release him.

Justice Ekwo is expected to take the ex-parte application filed along with the suit any moment, Monday.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had, last week, declared suspended deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Abba Kyari wanted over alleged 25kilograms of illicit drugs.

Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi said this at a press briefing on Monday in Abuja.

The NDLEA said investigation has revealed that Kyari, the erstwhile Commander of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police Force, was a member of drug syndicate which operated across the globe.

The anti-narcotics agency explained that the declaration of Kyari as wanted had become necessary as the policeman had failed ‘to honour the official invitation’ extended to him by the NDLEA, ‘right from this very moment.’

The NDLEA said it cannot continue to keep other suspects in the case indefinitely while the principal suspect fails to honour official invitation, as it explained that relevant channels of communication were duly followed in the demand for Kyari without any result.

Kyari was subsequently arrested by the police and handed over to the NDLEA, a day later. He has since been under the custody of the anti-narcotics agency, which has also formally charged the suspended poilicemamn to court tendering vieo evidence of his complicity in the latest drug dealings.

The embattled Kyari is already a subject prosecution or extradition between Nigeria and authorities in the United States over his indictment in the cybercrimes conviction of an internet fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas.

Only last week, Police Service Commission (PSC) concluded its 14th Plenary Meeting, in Abuja, with a decision to defer its position on the case involving the suspended Commander of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari.

The Standing Committee on Police Discipline and Appeals of the PSC had earlier directed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba to carry out a more thorough investigation on the matter and submit its report within two weeks in line with the advice by the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) that all loopholes in the matter be tightened.

The PSC Meeting also considered 20 pending disciplinary matters and five appeals as well as petitions from the Inspector General of Police and aggrieved serving and ex-Police Officers.

On the Kyari case, the PSC is also insisting that a new panel be set up to conduct a fresh investigation into the matter.

A statement issued by the commission, Friday, signed by its Head of Press and Public Relations, Ikechukwu Ani, said the commission took the far-reaching decisions at its 14th Plenary Meeting, which held last Thursday, February 10th, in Abuja, chaired by Alhaji Musiliu Smith, a retired Inspector General of Police and Chairman of the Commission.

The decision of the Commission comes two weeks after it rejected the report of the panel set up by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali to investigate the alleged connection between Abba Kyari and Hushpuppi for lacking depth.

“The Commission also directed that further necessary investigation should take half the time it took the Police to conduct the original investigation and that the investigation should be carried out by a different panel,” the statement said.

Last July, the IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, had ordered a review of the allegations leveled against embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, with the report also indicting the senior police officer, but with the Police Chief only recommended reprimand in the form of demotion for the embattled Kyari.

However, the Police Service Commission (PSC) insisted on outright dismissal for Kyari over multimillion-dollar fraud. The PSC panelists which reviewed the IGP recommendations while acknowledging Kyari’s strides when he was in active service, said his infractions as to Hushpuppi’s criminal activities were too weighty to be forgiven, as they posited that if not appropriately and firmly decided, could leave an enduring blight on the country’s law enforcement.

“Allowing somebody who has embarrassed the country to keep a high-ranking position in the police could further compound our problems as a nation,” a top official said, adding; “This position has been clearly conveyed to the inspector-general.”

The position of panelists at PSC led to the return of Inspector-General Alkali Baba Usman’s report last week. The police chief was given two weeks to come up with a better report or the PSC would be forced to act.

“The IGP recommended demotion of Abba Kyari from DCP [deputy police commissioner] to ACP [assistant police commissioner] and this led to the anger of the PSC,” another source confirmed.

Kyari is alleged to have received huge sums of money from a  $1.1million loot said to be bribes paid by suspected internet fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas (alias Hushpuppi) who is presently in the United States facing trial for offences bordering on money laundering and cybercrimes.

Kyari is also the subject of a United States Court warrant of arrest.

Judge Otis Wright of the United States District Court for the Central District of California ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track down Kyari and produce him in the United States for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud perpetrated by Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas, a notorious Nigerian fraudster.

Abbas was arrested in Dubai in June, 2021 and he pleaded guilty to fraud in the U.S. The FBI said Messrs Abbas and Kyari have been friends and were both involved in a conspiracy to launder money.

Kyari was also indicted of receiving bribes from Abbas to arrest a member of the syndicate in Nigeria.

U.S prosecutors first sought a court warrant to arrest Kyari on February 12, 2021, according to court documents. Another warrant was requested on April 29, 2021.

Judge Wright’s permission for the FBI to arrest Kyari and hold him in U.S. custody was unsealed on July 26, 2021.