The suspended anti-kidnapping chief, Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, has sued the Federal Government over his continued detention by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
In a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/182/22, Kyari is praying the Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the NDLEA to grant him bail on health grounds, pending the hearing and determination of his fundamental right enforcement application.
On February 14, 2022, NDLEA indicted Kyari in alleged drug trafficking and related offences.
The police authorities subsequently handed over Kyari to the anti-narcotics agency for prosecution over alleged links in drug trafficking after the NDLEA released damning photo and video evidence to nail Kyari.
The NDLEA said Kyari belonged to a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.
The agency also said Kyari contacted one of its officers in Abuja and struck a deal to secure the release of a total of 25kg seized cocaine and offered $61,400 bribe to NDLEA officers who played along until his arrest.
The IGP Bala Alkali Usman, in a statement, corroborated the NDLEA’s findings, saying incontrovertible evidence indicted Kyari in the drug crimes.
The NDLEA had also said it would charge the cop and four others to court.
Kyari was suspended in July 2021 for alleged involvement in a $1.1 million Internet fraud allegedly perpetrated by Hushpuppi and four others; AbdulRahman Juma (Abdul); Vincent Chibuzo (Kelly); Rukayat Fashola (Morayo); and Bolatito Agbabiaka (Bolamide).
Earlier, a four-man Special Investigation Panel headed by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Joseph Egbunike, had probed Kyari.
Recently, the Police Service Commission (PSC) has directed the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to deepen investigations into the connection between the embattled super cop and billionaire fraudster, Abbas Ramon (Hushpuppi).
It was gathered that the commission gave the IGP two weeks to turn in the report which would be reviewed by the PSC Standing Committee on Discipline.
Malami reportedly told the PSC that the police investigation on Kyari was not water-tight and that more facts were needed to establish the relationship between Kyari and Hushpuppi. It would be recalled that last year, FBI Special Agent, Andrew Innocenti, indicted Kyari in an alleged $1.1m fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.
