The arrest of Nigeria’s hero “super cop” Abba Kyari over his involvement in drug trafficking has once again, put the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) on the spotlight. Kyari, who was under investigation for his involvement in a $1.1 million internet scam, was suspended by the Police in July. His ability to still run a team that intercepted a drug deal while under suspension has put a question mark on anything integrity left with the Nigerian Police.
To many, it is not surprising though. The NPF has overtime, by its actions and inactions, refused to put on the image that will earn it public trust. There are more stories of police involvement in criminal activities than there are of actual criminals in Nigeria – the reason the EndSARS protest happened.
So when Kyari, one of the most decorated police officers in Nigeria was indicted by the FBI last year, for aiding a high-profile fraudster Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, it only added to the multiple allegations of criminal misconduct already trailing his illustrious career. But it also fortified the belief that the Nigerian Police thrives on impunity, which shields its personnel from punishment every time they’re caught in misconduct. Almost every episode of police misconduct proves this public’s belief true – and the drug trafficking incident isn’t an exception.
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On Monday, when the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) issued a statement declaring Kyari wanted over his inability to honor the invitation the Agency had extended to him over his involvement with a drug cartel, many wondered why. The question was: what happened to the synergy that should have existed between federal law enforcement agencies?
The answer to this question became known days after the police said that they have arrested and handed Kyari over the NDLEA. It was later revealed that Kyari was arrested last week, and had been in the police custody while the NDLEA was frantically looking for him for interrogation. The narcotic Agency helplessly knew this, and understood what was playing out. So it resorted to the only avenue it could use to effectively bring the suspect in – the public.
On Monday, the NDLEA’s press briefing took only a few minutes to go viral. Issuing a public statement accompanied by a video evidence, declaring one of the most decorated officers of the Nigerian Police Force wanted for drug trafficking, is a humiliating development beyond the police control, which has casted further stench on the entire Nigerian criminal justice system. So the police was forced to hand one of its own over – one of its best this time.
The NDLEA’s plan did not only work, it also put the police on the spot. So the NPF embarked on damage control. In an attempt to save whatever is left of the integrity in its possession, the police issued a statement accusing some of the Agency personnel of being the drug cartel mule.
“… 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 aftermath statement by the police said.
The next paragraph of the police statement blinks with pointers that contradict the police’s claims, especially on ‘inter-agency collaboration’ as the NDLEA highlighted in its response.
“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 stabilize the internal security order of the country,” the police said.
From the response of NDLEA to the above claims, Nigerians could read through the lines on what is brewing.
“To correct some inaccuracies in the information in the public space that NDLEA officers at the Enugu Airport were the ones who received from the cartel details about the mule coming from Addis Ababa, the agency wishes to quote from the transcript of Abba Kyari’s recorded conversation with our undercover officer and a portion of ASP James Bawa’s statement to the police as documented in the police investigation report, a copy of which was made available to the agency, to state that it’s an established fact that it’s the Abba Kyari’s team that was contacted by the cartel and without doubt, the records clearly show how their ring works,” the agency said.
It went further to reveal how Kyari and his team had been in contact with the cartel while they transit through the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigerian route.
“In his own recorded conversation with our undercover officer, Abba Kyari also said the following: ‘They are greedy, seriously greedy (referring to his informants), we tried to have them accept 40% but they refused, except 50%, they know the rudiment of the deal very well, they are the ones that do the packing.
“From Brazil, one of the informants accompanied it to Ethiopia. You understand; one of the informants accompanied the goods to Ethiopia, one of the informants that give us information. He is the boy of the big baron.
“From Addis, it will be given to those to proceed further with it, he will get their snapshots without their knowledge. Yes, he will reveal those that are conveying it further, get snapshots of theirs without their knowledge and send them to us (Abba Kyari’s team). So, we already know the goods, pictures and the clothes they are wearing, hope you understand, we know your name, he will give us everything. So, automatically my team will just be waiting, they will just see you and arrest you,” the statement said.
As the two agencies accuse each other of playing a bigger role in the drug deal, the public has, without application, become the umpire. However, they judge based on the antecedents of both the police and the NDLEA.
The police in its statement has assured the general public that every one of personnel involved in the drug deal will be brought to justice, and so has the NDLEA. But given the police’s record in matters like this, its statement has become hard to believe.
The NPF has been noticed on several occasions being lenient with its personnel at the expense justice. Some of them caught in heinous crimes like armed robbery and murder get transferred to other locations, and subsequently get promoted. Hundreds of petitions were filed against the police for various degrees of misconduct during the EndSARS judicial panel hearing across Nigerian states. Out of this staggering number, only a few responsible police officers have been brought to book.
In August, findings submitted by a police panel investigating Kyari’s involvement in cyberfraud was rejected by the Police Service Commission (PSC), and a new investigation was ordered on the advice of the Attorney General of the Federation. The panel had dismissed the indicting evidence provided by the FBI, describing it as “circumstantial”, and recommended that Kyari be demoted from Deputy Commissioner for Police (DCP) to Assistant Commissioner for Police (ACP), for fraternizing with fraudsters as it violates the police professional ethics.
This means, by the virtue of the NPF’s tradition to shield its erring personnel from punishment, Kyari was never going to be extradited to the US as requested by the FBI, even though, as the Attorney General pointed out; “there exists a prima facie case of conspiracy, collaboration, receipt, conversion, transfer and/or retention of proceeds of unlawful activities contrary to the provision of section 15, 17 & 18 of the Money Laundering (prohibition) Act, 2004 and section 17 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Est) Act, Cap El Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 against DCP Abba Kyari and other suspects in view of the overwhelming evidence showing the nature of his disguised financial transactions and activities with Hushpuppi and others.” Many believe that Kyari was on his way to becoming the Inspector General of Police, if not for the video evidence presented by the NDLEA.
But that would have been just one upon many cases that have been buried under the mammoth impunity in the NPF. A retired Assistant General of Police (AIG) Austin Iwar said on Channels TV programme ‘Sunrise Daily’, on Wednesday, that the arrest of Kyari shows that there are many more Abba Kyaris in the Nigerian Police system and there may be others committing even worse crimes.
Kyari was arrested with four other officers who were living flamboyantly above their police paycheck, a situation notable also in other government agencies. Kyari is said to be building a multimillion naira mansion on Jemina road Damboa, Maiduguri, and had offered a neighbor, whose house is obstructing a straight access way to his mansion, N70 million for his house.
The impunity in the NPF is believed to be visible in its doing and undoing, but especially in condoning officers who are wealthy beyond their means of livelihood. Against this backdrop, the NPF’s attempt to whitewash itself whenever its personnel is exposed for corruption is a joke that Nigerians are no longer laughing at.