- Celebrity Policeman Is A Drug Lord, NDLEA Alleges
- Embarrassed Police Give Up Disgraced Kyari, Charges NDLEA To Arrest Accomplices In Own Rank
By Our Reporters
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari became famous for being the main string puller in quite a number of sting operations in which a handful of notorious armed robbers, kidnappers and allied criminals were reeled into the long arms of the law. It is not far-fetched to therefore, if his admirers who counted in the millions across the country – until Monday, 14 February 2022 – expect that Kyari would be able to smell a sting operation in which he is the prime prey from a million mile. How wrong they were!
On a day lovers the world over were engaged in the yearly fanfare of public and private display of falling in love DCP Abba Kyari found himself on the other side of the Cupid spectre. Millions of his hitherto ‘lovers’ enamoured with him on account of his crime-bursting credentials fell out of love with Kyari following shocking revelations by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) which alleged that the so-called super cop is a Janusian, double-dealing police officer deeply in bed with the underworld and in fact a lord of crime himself .
The crux of the NDLEA’s allegations is that contrary to his fame, DCP Abba Kyari has all along been betraying public trust, abusing the sacred privileges conferred on him by the Nigeria tax-payer’s bought police uniform issued to him by actually leading a vast network of illicit drug operations whose tentacles go global.
The NDLEA’s revelations comes on the heels of last’s year’s disclosure that Abba Kyari had all along being in bed with syndicates of Nigeria’s infamous international fraudsters, popularly known as yahoo-yahoo boys, as the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) not only declared him wanted in the US but asked the Federal Government to extradite him to America so that he can stand trial for alleged money laundering as an accomplice of the Nigerian Ramoni Abbas, alias Hushpuppi.
Incidentally Abbas was scheduled for sentencing in the US on same Valentine’s Day on which Abba Kyari himself sank deeper into ignominy as he was arrested and handed over to the NDLEA by a thoroughly embarrassed Nigeria Police as it emerged from the NDLEA’s revelation that while the whole country had been told that Abba Kyari had been suspended from his post and duties at theIntelligence Response Team (IRT) which he headed, the disgraced cop was actually still active all over the country purportedly bursting crime. (Following a request by Abbas’ lawyers, his sentencing has been rescheduled for 11 July, 2022.)
This egregious cover-up for one of its own by the police is all the more shocking to Nigerians and further eroded their all-time low trust in the police as the police appear to have all along been playing on the intelligence of the whole country by a public show which they made of investigating the FBI allegations against Abba Kyari, which probe fell into high farce only last week as the Police Service Commission kicked the can down the road further by insisting on a fresh investigation of the same matter for another two weeks.
But then the final fall of Abba Kyari came out of his apparent conviction of his own invincibility and above-the-law insouciancewith which he treated repeated, routine official invitation for a debriefing at the NDLEA following his purported busting of a drug importation ring.
According to Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Mr. Femi Babafemi at a press conference he called on Monday to declare Abba Kyari wanted, “the saga started on Friday, January 21, 2022, when DCP Kyari initiated a call to one of the 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.”
Babafemi continued: “He (Abba Kyari) 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 the 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.
“Now, anybody who is in touch with the reality of the renewed drug war by NDLEA since January 18, 2021, would know that that was a tall order because our officers and men have rededicated themselves to the war against illicit drugs and what Kyari was asking for was not tenable, not in this new dispensation, not with the new NDLEA. We can recall that one of our officers was in the same situation in May 2021 when a drug kingpin, Ejiofor Felix Enwereaku, flew from Brazil to Nigeria to negotiate the release of a 27.95 kg shipment of cocaine intercepted at the MMIA.
“The drug lord offered a bribe of $24, 500, but our officer placed duty above pecuniary interest. We all know how the episode ended. That is the ethos of the new NDLEA. And our officer proved it again this time by reporting to the authorities.
“By 11: 05 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 the 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. In effect, he would be delivering $61, 400 to the NDLEA team.
“He put pressure on our officer to wrap up the arrangement with the commander of the FCT Command to take custody of the drug and suspects from his men who were on ground in Abuja. At the time, he was speaking from Lagos, where he allegedly travelled for private business.
“The next day January 25, Kyari offered to send his younger brother to deliver the payment while his men deliver the suspects, but our officer turned down the suggestion, insisting he would rather deal with him in person and was therefore prepared to wait for him to return from Lagos.
And by 5: 23 pm, Kyari was in Abuja and met with the officer at the same rendezvous where they had the first meeting.
“In their discussion, he disclosed how his team received the information from a double-crosser who betrayed the traffickers to him, showing a sordid connection between law enforcement agents and the drug underworld; he narrated how acting on the tip-off, his team departed Abuja to Enugu and arrested the traffickers, removed part of the consignment on his instruction and replaced same with dummies.
“He also indicated how to identify the remnant of the original cocaine that would be delivered to NDLEA, five original packages marked with red dots. The reason for this was to avoid the dummies being subjected to test. He forwarded a picture of the marked original cocaine package. According to the plan, once the 5kg cocaine has been tested in the presence of the suspects and confirmed positive, there would be no need to test the remaining ones, being dummies.
“He also brought with him the money from the sale of the 5kg share of the NDLEA team, a total of $61, 400. Our officer, however, preferred to take the money inside his car. Well, the car was wired with sound and video recorders. And the moment was documented, part of which I will play for you at the end of this briefing.
“So we have a trove of intelligence, hard facts, from chats to photos and video and a detailed transcript of the communication between him and the NDLEA officer.
“This is not the place to delve into the details. But it is disheartening to hear straight from the horse’s mouth the kind of sleaze engaged in by this team of rogue law enforcement agents led by Kyari, the members of whom he
described this way: “the boys are very, very sharp, they are very loyal.”
“It is disheartening to hear him say of this rogue team, and I quote: “I do take good care of them, and this kind of work is done by only that team.”
“It is equally disheartening to hear him give details of another similar operation which they pulled off, three weeks ago, according to him.
“Well, I am not here to wash his dirty linen in the public. But I want us to understand how we arrive at this juncture whereby we are having this press briefing.
“NDLEA has the mandate to take custody of suspects and consignments of drugs seized by other arms of law enforcement. And there is a standard protocol for such transfer. This we duly followed. The suspects and drugs were delivered to us on February 8 but the last part of the process, yet to be completed, is the debriefing of Kyari.
“Gentlemen of the press, DCP Abba Kyari was invited by NDLEA for debriefing on Thursday February 10 through two main channels because there is a whole lot of questions begging for answers. The invitation was legitimate and formal according to our protocol. But up till the close of office hours on Friday, February 11, he refused to respond. Up till this moment, he hasn’t responded.”
Babafemi then revealed that the NDLEA had received multiple threats from suspected ‘Team Abba Kyari’ and their sympathisers to harm NDLEA officials involved the sting operation in which the tainted cop and others were fingered. He therefore added:
“We are a law-abiding agency of government. We follow due process. In that vein, we will not detain suspects beyond the stipulated period according to the law before we charge them to court. And Kyari must be debriefed before the suspects are arraigned in court.
Having failed to honour the official invitation, NDLEA has no option but to declare DCP Abba Kyari of the Nigerian Police WANTED, right from this very moment.
“I must say this publicly. We are not unaware of threats to the lives of NDLEA officers involved in this investigation, even as we continue to do our best to protect our officers and men in the line of duty.
“We are making this strong statement to those contemplating harmful action against NDLEA officers. They would only succeed in compounding their problems in the event of the murder of or harm to officers and men of NDLEA.”
Embarrassed by the NDLEA’s recourse to the court of public opinion through the media conference which Babafemi addressed, the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba, belatedly sprang into action to scrub off the eggshell on the police’s damaged reputation as he thereafter gave up DCP Abba Kyari to the NDLEA,
A statement on the IGP’s capitulation to the NDLEA made available to The Dream Daily Newspaper in Abuja by Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, reads in full:
“The Nigeria Police Force has arrested DCP Abba Kyari and four other police officers for their involvement in an alleged case of criminal conspiracy, discreditable, unethical, and unprofessional conduct, official corruption and tampering with exhibits in a case of illicit drug trafficking involving a perpetual transnational drug cartel. The arrest of the officers was sequel to pieces of information received from the leadership of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on 10th February, 2022.
“In line with standard administrative procedure of the Force, the Inspector General of Police ordered a high-level, discreet, and in-house investigation into the allegations. The interim investigations report revealed that two (2) international drug couriers identified as Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus, both males, were arrested at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu on the 19th of January, 2022 upon their arrival from Addis Ababa aboard an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET917. The arrest led to the recovery of substantial quantity of powdery substance suspected to be cocaine from the two narcotic couriers. The operation which was intelligence-driven, was undertaken by a Unit of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
“Although the case and the two suspects were subsequently transferred to the NDLEA on the 25th January, 2022, the findings of the in-house investigation ordered by the Inspector General of Police established reasonable grounds for strong suspicion that the IRT officers involved in the operation could have been involved in some underhand and unprofessional dealings as well as official corruption which compromised ethical standards in their dealings with the suspects and exhibits recovered.
Beyond this, the Police investigation also established that the international narcotics cartel involved in this case have strong ties with some officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu who are on their pay roll.
“The two arrested drug couriers confirmed that the modus is for the transnational drug barons to conspire with the NDLEA officers on duty and send them their pre-boarding photographs for identification, seamless clearance, and unhindered passage out of the airport with the narcotics being trafficked. The two arrested drug couriers also confirmed that they have been enjoying this relationship with the NDLEA officers at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport since 2021 and had in this instant case of 19th January, 2022, been identified and cleared by the NDLEA officers as customary, having received their pre-departure photographs and other details prior to their arrival in Enugu, and were on their way out with the narcotics when they were apprehended by the Police.
“The Police investigations report also indicted DCP Abba Kyari, who had been on suspension for his alleged involvement in a different fraud case being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), for complicity in the allegation of official corruption, tampering with narcotics exhibit and sundry unprofessional conducts that negate the standard administrative and investigative protocols of the Force as well as extant criminal laws. It is to be emphasised that DCP Abba Kyari’s involvement in these allegation occurred while his suspension from service was subsisting.
“On the strength of the findings of the in-house Police Investigation Panel, the Inspector-General of Police has ordered the immediate arrest and transfer of all the indicted police officers to the NDLEA authorities for conclusive investigation, while appropriate disciplinary actions are also being initiated against them by the Force leadership. The concerned officers include DCP Abba Kyari, ACP Sunday Ubuah, ASP Bawa James, ASP John Umoru (at large), Inspr. Simon Agrigba and John Nuhu. They have all been, accordingly, handed over today 14th February, 2022 to the NDLEA authorities.
“In so doing, the Inspector General of Police has also formally requested that the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency should ensure the identification, arrest and investigation of the Agency’s officers who have also been found to be colluding with the international drug cartel involved in this case towards advancing the anti-narcotics agenda of the federal Government.
“The Inspector General of Police assures the public of his administration’s commitment to upholding the tenets and values of policing in line with the agenda of ethical regeneration, restoration of professional standard, enhancement of the anti-corruption drive, respect for the rule of law and inter-agency collaboration in the drive to stabilise the internal security order of the country.”
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