Pascal Oparada
Abba Mustapha Umar Kyari, Nigeria’s celebrated crime buster, battles to save his image, career
His feats in the Nigeria Police Force leave his contemporaries green with envy. He is the go-to cop where tough and violent crimes are involved – kidnapping, banditry, armed robberies and, recently, his deployment to Imo State to quell the unrest by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its militant arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Kyari headed the now-disbanded notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad ( SARS) in Lagos, as the Officer-In-Charge. He is the head of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), a crack team of police special forces, specialising in busting tough and violent crimes.
He has maintained a rather clean persona, courting and successfully using the media to hype his achievements.
His social media posts give users the impression of a hard-working and successful super cop.
The case against Kyari
But on Wednesday, last week, not a few Nigerians were aghast to read that the most celebrated police officer, Kyari, had allegedly been involved with a known and notorious Internet fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, popularly called Hushpuppi.
Kyari’s dalliance with Hushpuppi started in September 2019, according to an affidavit by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
During the course of communicating with Hushpuppi, who had problems with a member of his crime syndicate, Vincent Chibuzo, Kyari sent Huspuppi, through messaging platform, WhatsApp, several photographs of himself and a link to an article, which showed him as hard-working and Nigeria’s most decorated police officer.
Hushuppi had asked Kyari to help deal with Chibuzo, who was posing as an obstruction to a ‘job’ he was pursuing with a Qatari businessperson.
Kyari used his personal phone numbers, which have been confirmed by this newspaper as belonging to him, to communicate with Hushpuppi on several occasions.
After arresting Chibuzo, Kyari sent photographs of him to Hushpuppi and told him ‘we have arrested the guy. He is in my cell now’, to which Hushpuppi replied ‘Yes, yes that is him sir’, the FBI said.
The FBI also alleged that Kyari sent Hushpuppi bank account details into which he paid Kyari to effect the arrest and detention of Chubuzo for at least a month so they could finish their ‘job’ with the Qatari businessperson.
Otis Wright of the United States District Court for the Central District of California ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track down Mr. Kyari and produce him in the United States for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud perpetrated by Hushpuppi, the Gazette reports.
Kyari refuted the allegations in a terse response on social media.
He said: “Friends: Abbas who we later came to know as Hushpuppi called our office about 2 years ago that somebody in Nigeria Seriously threatened to kill his Family here in Nigeria and he sent the person’s Phone number and pleaded we take action before the Person attacks his family,” Kyari wrote on his verified Facebook account.
“We traced and arrested the Suspect and after investigations, we discovered there wasn’t an actual threat to anyone’s life And they are long time friends who have money issues between them hence we released the Suspect on bail to go and he was not taken to any jail.
“Nobody demanded for a kobo from Abbas Hushpuppi. Our focus was to save people’s lives that were purported to have been threatened.
“Later, he saw some of my Native Clothes and Caps on my social media page and he said he likes them and he was connected to the person selling the clothes and he sent about N300k directly to the person’s account. The Native Clothes and Caps (5 sets) were brought to our office and He sent somebody to Collect them in our office.
“Nobody demanded any money from Abbas Hushpuppi and nobody collected any money from him. We responded to a distress call he made on the threat to his family and released the Suspect when we discovered there was no life threat from the Suspect. This is the true story. Vincent is alive, he can be contacted.
Experts say there are holes in Kyari’s statement. He sidestepped critical issues raised by the FBI in the affidavit like sending his personal photographs and website links to Hushpuppi and talking about a ‘job’ with him.
He also did not address the fact that Hushpuppi sent a car and a personal driver to pick him up at an airport in Dubai when he visited. He failed to mention that he rode in the same car with Hushpuppi where he recounted his exploits, as a super cop in Nigeria.
The FBI are only interested in Kyari’s unholy liaison with Hushpuppi but ignorant or unconcerned about of his quality as a top cop. Beyond what The FBI sees about Kyari, it is a known fact that heis an effectively performing officer, an attribute that has endeared him to many Nigerians and won him some plaudits.
Kyari’s exploits
Those who know Kyari can attest to his strong work ethic and diligence to duty.
“He is a nice police officer,” a crime reporter told this newspaper. Just like every other person, Kyari may have his good and bad sides,” the reporter said.
Kyari has only been involved in violent crimes like kidnapping, armed robbery, and terrorism and not on fraud cases.
One of his most celebrated achievements is the arrest of a notorious kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans.
Kyari himself celebrated Evans’ arrest on Facebook, telling people how he had worked on the case by hopping on motorcycles and finally arresting Evans in his palatial residence in Magodo, an opulent neighbourhood in Lagos.
When former Chief of Air Staff, Alex Badeh, was killed in 2018, Kyari and his IRT team were detailed by the then Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to crack the case. Within days, the alleged killers were paraded to newsmen.
Kyari had been on the trail of members of the gang, who had been terrorising businessmen, mostly cattle owners, as well as robbing and kidnapping motorists on the Kaduna – Keffi Expressway.
“After they killed the General, we got information within the Fulani Community here in Nasarawa State that it was the same boys who had been terrorising us for a long time that carried out the attack
“We quickly sent words to Abba Kyari, after he visited the scene not to look far for the attackers since we knew who they were. They had robbed a lot of us of our money and cows over the years and they are daring to do more. Since we have good rapport with Kyari, we asked him to bring his men to Keffi, where we have learned some of his boys come to relax after their operations. We also learned that the commander refused to allow the boys to share the money they robbed from the General and he only shared N25,000 each to them,” a source told Vanguard newspaper after Badeh’s killers were caught.
Kyari and his IRT team were instrumental to the killing of a notorious kidnapper, Henry Chibueze, popularly called Vampire in Rivers State in 2017.
Also, Kyari was involved in the arrest of Offa robbery suspects, which was described as the most violent robbery in Nigeria.
In the course of the robbery, over 30 people were killed, including a pregnant woman and police officers. Kyari and his team were to have baited the robbers through their girlfriends, just like the case of Evans.
In June last year, he was honoured by the House of Representatives for his exceptional and exemplary service to the country.
“The gallant officer and his team recorded several successes in combating organised crime in Nigeria, which include the arrest of the notorious kidnapper, known as Evans, in Lagos and the capture of the deadly kidnapper, White Vampire in Owerri, Imo State; arrest of the killer of the former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Alex Badeh; arrest of several Boko Haram commanders, including bomb makers and those responsible for the kidnap of the famous Chibok girls; and the arrest of the deadly Offa bank robbers that invaded Offa town in Kwara and robbed five different commercial banks and murdered over 30 innocent Nigerians, including a pregnant woman, making it the deadliest bank robbery in Nigeria’s history,’’ Hon. Ahmad Jaha, representing Chibok in Borno State, said during Kyari’s award at the House.
The Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, presiding over the commendation session extolled the police officer, describing him as an intelligent man.
Regardless of Kyari’s sterling credentials as a top cop, his career has also been trailed by scandals. Prior to the Hushpuppi saga, Kyari was alleged to have defrauded a businessman, Afeez Mojeed, to the tune of N41 million.
During the sitting of the EndSARS Judicial Panel, one of the victims of SARS, Afeez Mojeed, told the panel that Kyari extorted him in 2014 when Kyari was Officer-In-Charge of SARS in Lagos.
In a series of petitions between 2016 and 2018, Mojeed sought justice through the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), but to no avail.
In a fresh petition filed on October 22, 2020, through Salawu Akingbolu & Co, Mojeed’s counsel, and addressed to the then newly formed judicial panel of inquiry and restitution for victims of SARS-related abuses in Lagos, Kyari and his officers were accused of forcefully taking about 32 items from Mojeed’s house during a raid in 2014.
Kyari denied the accusations by Mojeed.
Kyari’s presence at Oba during the burial of the mother of a socialite, Obi Cubana, raised eyebrows. Many wondered how a top cop like him would hobnob with the high and mighty and still maintain the integrity required of a police officer of his ilk.
This is the reason many were not surprised when the news of him having dealings with Hushpuppi did not take many by surprise.
Kyari, who has protrayed himself as a Super Cop, has been perceived by Nigerians who have encountered him on the job as a ruthless cop who does not take any prisoner.
For instance, during his time as Officer-in-Charge of SARS in Lagos, there were reported cases of extra-judicial deaths under his watch, which The Nigerian Xpress could not independently verify.
Daniel Freeman, who was arrested by SARS for armed robbery when Kyari was in charge in April 2010, said he was taken to SARS office where he met Kyari face to face.
“After about two weeks in SARS, they now took me to the office of OC SARS, Abba Kyari, at about 11:00 pm. Abba Kyari now brought out pistol and asked me to tell him the truth otherwise he would kill me. I explained to him that I didn’t know anything about the robbery, that I had been detained at Panti and released. I told him if I were involved in any robbery, I would have run away. Abba Kyari then told his men to take me back to the cell.
“Three days after my encounter with Abba Kyari, they brought some journalists to me, who were given a statement I didn’t make. I didn’t see what they published but Justice Lateefat Okunnu of the High Court, Ikeja Division, ruled that those publications should not be kept in any public libraries.
“I spent a total of one month and three days in SARS. But before then, my family had solicited the assistance of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), who put pressure on SARS to charge the case to court. After four years awaiting trial, I was discharged and acquitted by Justice Okunnu in July 2015,” he said in a petition meant for the Lagos State Judicial Panel on SARS.
For now, Kyari is on the bad spot. RThe hunter has become the hunted, confronted by a ruthlesss fight to save his name and career that, if care is not taken, may see him end up in jail.
The EFCC source has revealed that the American security agency is not taking anything to chance at all. “FBI has contacted EFCC, asking that we arrest Abba Kyari but we told them that it is a police matter,” he said.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday acknowledged receiving a request from the FBI about Kyari.
A top source in the EFCC who spoke with Sahara Reporters, however, said no arrest can be made by the agency since Kyari is a police officer and that the case was not within the capacity of the EFCC but for the police to handle.
Also, officials of the FBI have met with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to demand the arrest and extradition of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari to the United States, SaharaReporters learnt.
According to a top source, four FBI agents met with the IGP on Thursday, asking that Kyari be taken to the United States for interrogation over his role in the activities of suspected serial Internet fraudster, Hushpuppi.
The source stated that the agents had returned on Friday to ensure their demands are met, citing the urgency of the case.
He said: “FBI agents met with the IGP to demand Abba Kyari’s arrest and extradition to the United States, citing the urgency of the case. Four FBI agents returned to the IG’s office this morning, they are there asking the IGP to release Kyari for interrogation.”
But a Lawyer, Kayode Ajulo, said the arrest and extradition of Kyari would be a tough one, as the FBI did not follow the right channels, Ajulo wrote on Facebook.
“It is unequivocal that Nigeria is a sovereign state and a citizen of Nigeria cannot be expelled/extradited from the country without strict adherence to the provisions of the constitution and international protocols. What is more, the “Federal Republic of Nigeria and the United States of America are bound by the provisions of the Extradition Treaty signed with the United States of America on December 22, 1931 (entered into force on June 24, 1935), including the Extradition Act of 1966 (Extradition Modification) Order, 2014, Extradition Act (Proceedings) Rules, 2015 and other International Protocols.
“For a starter, by the provision of Section 6 of the Extradition Act, a request for the surrender of a fugitive criminal of any country shall be made in writing to the Attorney-General by a diplomatic representative or consular officer of that country and shall be accompanied by a duly authenticated warrant of arrest or certificate of conviction issued in that country.
“Thereafter, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation would have to conduct a discreet and thorough investigation into the said allegations and upon the conclusion of same, if there is any prima facie case against DCP Abba Kyari, commence extradition processes against him in a court of competent jurisdiction within the Nigerian territory and obtain an order of court in line before he can be extradited to the United States of America,” Ajulo said.
However, the Nigeria Police has ordered an internal review of the allegations.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mbah in a statement, said members of the public would be notified, as the case progresses.
Nigerians are worried that one of their finest cops is being outed as a common criminal.
If indicted, Kyari faces dismissal from the force and extradition to the United States to face charges of wire fraud alongside Huspuppi and could be jailed.