Detained Abba Kyari sues FG, demands release; Court declines bail application

Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, has dragged the Nigerian Government to court to seek release from the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

Kyari, in his suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/182/22, 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.

But the Federal High court on Monday denied Abba Kyari’s bail application which his counsel filled on grounds of ill health.

In an ex parte application brought before the court on Monday, Kyari through his counsel, Cynthia Obianuju, told the court that his health was suffering.

His counsel, Cynthia described his client as diabetic and hypertensive, thereby praying the court to grant him bail pending the determination of the substantive suit.

But Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the applicant to put the respondents on notice.

“Upon studying the process of the applicant and the averments in support of the application, I am of the opinion that the respondents be put on notice so they can answer to the averments. Therefore, the applicant is hereby ordered to put the respondents on notice of all the processes in this matter,” he held.

In the alternative, the suspended DCP, being held by the NDLEA over his alleged involvement in hard drug trafficking wants the court to admit him to bail in liberal conditions.

He adjourned the matter till Thursday for a hearing of the application.

The anti-narcotics agency had on February 14, 2022, indicted Kyari, ex-head of the Police Intelligence Response Team, in alleged drug trafficking and related offences.

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, subsequently handed over Kyari to the anti-narcotics agency for prosecution over alleged links in drug trafficking after the NDLEA released a damning photo and video evidence to nail Kyari.

The NDLEA said Kyari, the suspended IRT head, belonged to a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.

The anti-narcotics 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 in a statement had 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.

The police commission had suspended Kyari on July 31, 2021, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States indicted the “supercop” for his alleged role in a $1m scam allegedly perpetrated by international Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas, aka, Hushpuppi and five others.

The FBI had said Hushpuppi paid Kyari N8m or $20,600 for the arrest and detention of a “co-conspirator,” Chibuzo Vincent.

The United States Attorney’s Office at the Central District of California declared Kyari wanted for the alleged offence.