NIGERIA’S ‘SUPER COP’ IN THE MUD

Valentines is known to be celebrated by lovers. On that day, lovers express their love for each other in special ways through the exchange of gifts, dinner dates, and what have you. On Valentine this year, 14^th, February 2022 Nigerians were gifted a surprise gift by the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency NDLEA.

We all did not see it coming; no one expected that our ‘Super Cop’ will go down in such a manner. The Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency on Valentine’s Day declared Abba Kyari wanted for his involvement and relationship with a drug cartel believed to be operating the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.

Part of the statement reads “Today, we are forced to declare one of such law enforcement agents wanted in the person of suspended DCP Abba Kyari, the erstwhile Commander of Intelligence Response Team IRT at the Force Intelligence Bureau of the Nigerian Police Force. 

With the intelligence at our disposal, the Agency believes strongly that DCP Kyari is a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline, and he needs to answer questions that crop up in an ongoing drug case in which he is the principal actor. His failure to cooperate forced the hand of the Agency and that is the reason for this press briefing.” 

Only in a lawless country like Nigeria allows a suspended cop still have control over a unit, recall the Kyari was suspended in 2020 for his alleged involvement in the fraud case of socialite Ramon Olorunwa Abbas popularly known as Ray Hushpuppi. 

Kyari was said to have helped Abbas detain and jail a fellow fraudster Kelly Chibuzor after a dispute over a $1.1 million fraud against a Qatari business person, Kelly felt shortchanged and threatened to expose the transaction but our ‘Super Cop’ swiftly came in to save the day and he was paid for the job well done by his benefactor Hushpuppi.

Abba Kyari was a feared and celebrated cop, feared by criminals and celebrated by the good people for his commitment to duty. Kyari during his hay days led the team that arrested one of Nigeria’s most notorious kidnap kingpins Chukwudumeme Onwaumadike also known as Evans in Lagos state together with his gang members in 2017. He has led several other operations that were successful.

Interestingly, Evans was on the 25^th of February given a life imprisonment sentence by a court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos, five years after his arrest by the ‘Super Cop’ that might be joining him soon.

He was celebrated even by our lawmakers, he was given a standing ovation by the senate-house because of his achievements in the Police Force, but what we do not know is, was Kyari clean at that time or it was the case of the highest bidder. Pay heavy bribes and Kyari and his team will stay off your track, refuse to pay and you are hunted down and he (Kyari) gets celebrated.

This case just goes to say the level of rot we have in our system, those that are meant to uphold the law are the very ones breaking the law. Interestingly, Kyari has on many occasions declared a public campaign against illicit drugs, funny how we don’t practice what we preach.

However, it is baffling how Kyari fell cheaply into the trap; with his level of ‘intelligence’, one would expect a more sophisticated trap. The drug law agency explained how he was trapped in the drug saga “the saga started on Friday, January 21, 2022, when DCP Kyari initiated a call to one of NDLEA officers in Abuja at 2: 12 pm. When the officer returned the call two minutes later, Kyari informed him he was coming to see him to discuss an operational matter after the Juma’at service. 

He appeared at the agreed venue of the meeting with the officer and went straight to the crux of the matter. This was it; his team had intercepted and arrested some traffickers that came into the country from Ethiopia with, according to him, 25kg of cocaine. He proposed a drug deal whereby he and his team are to take 15kg of the cocaine and leave 10kg for the prosecution of the suspects arrested with an illicit drug in Enugu. In the meantime, the purloined cocaine will be replaced with a dummy worth 15kg. He asked the NDLEA officer to persuade men of the FCT Command to play along as well.”

Again, how does a suspended cop still have control over a team? Can certainly just happen in a country like Nigeria. 

“By 11: 15 am on Monday, January 24, after the Agency gave the officer the green light to play along, he and Kyari began a WhatsApp call for the rest of the day. The officer conveyed ‘their’ willingness to play the game. At this point, Kyari disclosed that the 15kg (already taken out) was shared between the informants that provided information for the seizure and he and his men of IRT of the Nigerian Police.

According to him, the informants were given 7kg while his team took 8kg which was already sold. He then offered to pay the NDLEA team (that is the officer and the FCT commander) by selling, on their behalf, half of the remaining 10kg, thereby further reducing the original cocaine for the prosecution to just 5kg. at N7M per kilogram, the proceed from the 5kg would amount to N35M, at the exchange rate of N570 per dollar being the black market rate for the day, January 24, 2022.”

We all know how it ended, however, to some Nigerians; they believe the scenario was acted to avoid the extradition of Kyari to the United State of America to face allegations by the FBI for his involvement in Hushpuppi’s fraud case. 

Typical of Nigerian politicians and or leaders, they are all well until they are detained for a crime. Kyari has cried the Federal High Court in Abuja to order the NDLEA to grant him bail on health grounds, pending the hearing and determination of his fundamental rights enforcement application. 

Funny, how the mighty are falling.