Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, who heads the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigerian police, is in a major crisis of his career. He is accused of conducting financial transactions involving proceeds of illegal activities and has been indicted of fraud in a United States court. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has put in an extradition request to the Nigerian Government requesting that he attends court in the U.S. to answer to the charges against him.
The allegations arise from ongoing trial of Instagram Influencer, Ramon Abbas better known as Hushpuppi, who has pleaded guilty to money laundering, frauds and other scams. The super cop is alleged to have sent his bank account details to Abbas for payment for the jailing of Abbas’ partner, Kelly Chibuzor Vincent, who was unhappy with his share of the proceeds from defrauding a businessman in Qatar between 2019 and 2020 and reached out to the victim to report Abbas as fake.
Kyari claimed that Hushpuppi saw some native clothes and caps on his social media posts of which Abba Kyari claims that the payment received was made directly to the seller even though the items were brought to his office and picked up by courier.
Abba Kyari was until his indictment, head of the Intelligence Response Team who had been tracking Nigeria’s most notorious kidnap kingpin billionaire, Chukwudumeme Onwaumadike AKA Evans, which eventually led to his arrest in 2017. He has also been part of the team that arrested the killers of the former Chief of Defense Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, the most wanted Boko Haram Commander, Umar Abdulmalik and eight of his terrorist’s gang members, the deadly Offa Bank robbers in Kwara State, etc. He is also a recipient of Nigeria’s House of Representatives’ Honor.
No doubt, Kyari is a well decorated Nigerian police officer who has received a number of praises for his achievements. Human rights groups, however, raise concerns about his human rights record as a police officer. Most recently, he has been involved in security operations in the South-East of the country particularly Imo State where reports of extrajudicial killing of citizens by security officers in various communities have been alarming.