Court rejects alleged drug dealer Abba Kyari’s bail application

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has rejected the bail application of suspended police officer Abba Kyari, roiled in an illicit drug dealing case and two other persons.

Mr Kyari was detained in 2021 after notorious Internet fraudster Hushpuppi, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in the U.S., implicated him in having arrested some persons at his behest.

Justice Emeka Nwite said the defendants had not yet tendered evidence to merit the court’s discretion to approve their bail request.

The judge explained that bail applications were at the court’s discretion to determine and would not greenlight Mr Kyari’s request.

In February 2022, the NDLEA declared the disgraced police officer wanted over a drug trafficking case. He was shortly after arrested, detained and remanded in prison custody.

In May 2022, the alleged drug pusher and disgraced police officer said he was forced to bankroll the DSTV subscription bills for his fellow inmates at Kuje prison as he cooled off his feet in a private cell.

Nureini Jimoh, Mr Kyari’s lawyer who filed for a review of his client’s bail application, lamented the harsh treatment his client suffered at the prison.

Through his lawyer, Mr Kyari bewailed his incarceration at the correctional facility shared with other criminals, the majority of whom were arrested by his team during his active years in service.

According to the documents seen by Peoples Gazette, the suspended officer had resorted to doling out cash gifts to inmates and paying cable television bills to avoid being attacked and killed by the vicious criminals he helped put behind bars. 

“In a bid to mitigate the threats to kill the defendants/applicants, the chief warder advised DCP Abba Kyari and other defendants to advance some goodwill to the inmates by funding renewal of the DSTV subscription in all the cells for two months and make some cash donations to all the inmates group leaders as well as the church and mosque. The defendants/applicants complied on 29/03/2022,” stated the document.

Mr Kyari’s brother Mohammed swore an affidavit that contained details of the disgraced police officer’s argument.

Praying the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to review his bail application, the alleged drug dealer claimed his life was not safe as he had been accosted by a Boko Haram terrorist “Yasir,” on March 31, despite being held in a private cell. 

Mr Kyari further expressed worry over the increasing number of threats from fellow inmates including terrorists and armed robbers he once arrested in the course of duty.

“The number of inmates in prison at the distance of the IRT is large, but most worrisome are those arrested for terrorism, vowing to revenge the killing of their members who died in the course of operations by the DCP Abba Kyari led IRT,” Mr Jimoh pointed out. “The resultant effect of placing the applicants together with the condemned criminals in the same custodial home will have negative impacts on police and other security personnel, the likelihood of endangering and exposing the life of the officers to criminals in and out of service.”

Mr Kyari’s previous request for bail application to the court was initially rejected.

Citing instances of insecurity such as the Kaduna-Abuja train bombing on March 28, the Kaduna airport attack, as well as rampant banditry on the road linking Kaduna to Abuja, Mr Kyari argued that Nigeria had become a hotbed of crises ever since his arrest.