Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, has dragged the Federal 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.
Kyari through his lawyer, Cynthia Ikena, claimed to be suffering from diabetes and hypertension and asked the court to order the NDLEA to release him.
But, Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja has refused to order the Federal Government to release the detained Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, from the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Rather, the judge ordered that the embattled cop put the Federal Government on notice of the existence of the suit he instituted against it.
The suspended DCP is being held by the NDLEA over his alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
In an ex-parte application argued by his counsel, Cynthia Ikena, Kyari claimed to be suffering from chronic diabetes threatening his life and therefore needs urgent medical attention.
Justice Ekwo, in his brief ruling, declined to order his immediate release but ordered him to put the respondent on notice.
The judge ordered him to go and serve all processes he filed on the Federal Government.
Justice Ekwo held that all the averments and allegations made against the government are so weighty that the court must give the government the opportunity to hear from it before taking any step.
He thereafter fixed February 24 for the parties to appear before him.
Recall that 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 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 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 “super cop” for his alleged role in a $1m scam allegedly perpetrated by alleged 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 had declared Kyari wanted but the Nigerian government has yet to extradite him to face prosecution in the US before the cop’s NDLEA ordeal.
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