Show me a Nigeria Police Officer or other rank within the Nigeria Police Force that can be trusted and I will show you the devil that can also pass for your trust.
The Nigerian Police Authority has failed to realize the simple fact that most Nigerians, if not all, have lost confidence and trust in its personnel. People are forced by prevailing circumstance to interact with the Police but without trust. The service has lost its credibility for any trust from the look of things.
The Nigerian Police takes pride in inflicting injury, brutality or even murder of innocent suspects while in custody either for resisting or refusing to give bribe or lack the means to buy freedom on even phantom charges. The police has, never been anyone’s genuine or sincere friend in Nigeria. Make No mistake to believing that the police is your friend!
Until the bubble burst, following Kyari’s alleged involvement in series of illegal and unethical dealings with the popular global fraudster, Ramon Abbas, a.k.a Hushppupi who is currently, serving a jail sentence in the United States.
Abba Kyari was regarded as a Super Cop by those ignorant of his living style as a public servant expectedly surviving on monthly salary. He was rated by the gullible as a dedicated police officer diligent at his duties, patriotic, fearless and hardworking but definitely not sincere and honest.
At least so many thought until July 2021. And, for all of these, he was foolishly admired by many people including the high and the mighty, while his name was a household name in many parts of the country. In fairness to him, he did burst a few number of high profile crime syndicates and his exploits in unraveling some knotty criminal activities endeared him to many Nigerians.
He was, until his present travails began in 2021, Commander of the Elite Intelligence Rapid Response Squad (IRT), a unit in the Office of the Inspector General of Police.
While many Nigerians held him in high esteem until his travails started, the reality, as at today, is that the once upon-a-super cop has been demystified and came crushing, just as he climbed the ladder exponentially.
Hushppupi punctured whatever was going for Kyari on July 29, 2021, when he alleged that Kyari was involved in an international scheme to defraud a Qatari school founder with a view to laundering about $1.1million in illicit proceeds. This was sequel to a disagreement that broke among members of the syndicate which made one of them, Chibuzo Vincent, to contact the victim and told him that Abbas and one Juma (another fraudster) were engaged in fraud. Abbas, in response, allegedly arranged to have Chibuzor jailed in Nigeria through connivance with Abba Kyari. Money was allegedly paid into Kyari’s bank account to facilitate the arrest and detention with torture of Chibuzor.
Kyari was also said to have traveled to Dubai to meet with Abbas during which he had a nice time at the latter’s expense.
Although Kyari as usual and expectedly has denied these allegations, the United States Department of Justice issued a warrant of arrest on him and requested for his extradition from Nigeria. The IGP however suspended Kyari in August 2021, pending the outcome of the committee set up to investigate the matter for further action. The Nigerian authorities have so far refused to extradite Kyari based on a court order. But why the rush to court to upturn the US extradition request if Kyari was innocent?
This was the situation until February 14, 2022 when the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), released the outcome of a sting operation carried out on the super cop for a hard drug related issue that implicated him in an international drug syndicate operating the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline. The deal involved 25kg of cocaine which was intercepted by the NDLEA but Kyari allegedly pushed for its release, and offered the NDLEA officers about $61,000 cash.
What baffles the mind is the fact that while Kyari was said to have been suspended by the IGP, he was still carrying out ‘official’ operations until NDLEA exposed him in another scandal.
Definitely, the last has not been heard about Kyari and other police officers; and although he is yet to be found guilty and convicted of the crimes he was accused of if found guilty, home and away, the fact remains that he cannot emerge smelling like rose when the dust finally settles on these issues. Surely, some things do not add up about the Kyari persona.
The question that readily comes to mind, even given what is now in the public domain about our hitherto ‘super cop’ is: what are the criteria or process of recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force? What kind of back ground checks are carried out on prospective officers before they are signed on and kitted?
It would seem not much background checks are carried out. Recruitment seems to be on the basis of the highest bidder or through the influence of politically exposed persons, and this explains to the presence of all manner of persons parading themselves as officers of the Nigeria Police Officer that may even include jail birds, bandits, armed robbers and even terrorists.
Perhaps more worrisome is the fact that, until the United States government opened our eyes to the unfolding personality of the police officer some had been celebrating, nothing in our system triggered to warn us that we were playing with fire celebrating a cone man like Kyari. Imagine such a man ultimately becoming an Inspector General of Police, a position he was definitely looking forward to (and many of us would readily agree he merited, given the accolades he had been receiving), if these sordid aspects of his life have not been exposed! Imagine the implications for our drug war, our efforts to deal with high profile crimes etc?
Its’ high time President Buhari takes charge and arrest the escalating tide of incompetence, corruption, lethargy, etc that has been hobbling his administration’s security apparatchik for long. What has been playing out in the Kyari case is enough indication that the man is not alone in the crime, he is probably a cover. Otherwise, we cannot find justification for the foot-dragging in his matters on the parts of Federal Government officials that should have handled the issues decisively without attracting outcries for global attention.
Here, we are talking of government officials within the Ministry for Justice and the Nigeria Police Force, who seems not interested at the initial stage of handing over Kyari to NDLEA for interrogation on his involvement in the 25kg Cocaine deal and the issue of extraditing him to the United States to defend himself against the allegations trumpeted by Hushppupi.
Ironically, the only response from the IGP was a suspension on the directive of the Police Service Commission. Now, imagine someone under suspension for such grievous allegations but wasn’t sober enough for possible repentance. There was no such in the ‘embattled’ Kyari because of ………….Indeed, that he was free attending social parties and even had the temerity to coordinate drug crimes under suspension tells a lot about his kind of suspension and the Buhari government’s anti-corruption crusade.
It is enough evidence that Kyari has some powerful interest groups backing him for the alleged crimes he has been committing including the murder of innocent suspects, illegal detentions and extortions.
Nigeria may be on the way to being treated to a can of worms if a thorough investigation is discreetly conducted on this singular case of 25kg cocaine seizure.
Even the NDLEA may not escape unscathed because drug syndicates cannot operate successfully without the collusion of some unscrupulous elements in the anti-narcotic agency. They all need to be exposed for the country to have a breather and regain its respect that has been dented over the poor and shady handling of the Kyari incident and several others unannounced.
On a final note, with several revelations on how DCP Abba Kyari operated in the Nigeria Police Force, there is need for a thorough review of all cases handled by the embattled Kyari, some of which led to convictions, this is especially true of those cases convicted without sufficient evidence kept in chain of custody before it was taken for scientific analysis.
In the ongoing NDLEA case involving Kyari, if it is shown that Kyari made a move to supplant real evidence with dummy evidence or that he actually tampered with evidence or that the chain of custody of evidence has been substantially compromised, then it follows that a number of persons would have been convicted based on dummy evidence, fabricated evidence as is usually the case with Nigerian Police or evidence whose chain of custody has been compromised.
It is possible that a number of persons have been sentenced to prison or great beyond based on dummy evidences or substituted evidence.
Furthermore, previous NDLEA convictions should also be brought under heavy legal scrutiny. In sane climes when top officers are accused of serious evidentiary infractions or fabrications, a deep investigation is made into all the cases they handled to see cases of possible miscarriages of justice. Kyari must have murdered some innocent suspects either for fun or from the directives of the likes of Ramon Abbas or for resisting extortion to regain their freedom.
As Nigeria steadily journey into ushering another democratic government in few months, we are expecting a complete reformation of the Nigeria Police by the next civilian government. The present colonial policing should give way for civilization.
Muhammad is a commentator on national issues
