Abba Kyari: From hero to villain: What went wrong for Nigeria Police poster boy?

Before now, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari was the toast of all. He was regarded by many in Nigeria as a super cop. He was always there whenever there was a need to crack a tough nut. His prowess in crime fighting seemed unrivaled. The name, Kyari made many criminals pee in their pants.

From busting tough criminal gangs, to putting handcuffs in the hands of notorious armed robbers and kidnappers, Abba Kyari was there. Expectedly, awards began to rain on him from different quarters for the heroic achievements. He was dubbed as the nation’s pride of what a police officer should be.

The super cop led his crack team to arrest notorious billionaire kidnapper, Evans. After the arrest, Kyari said the kidnapper offered his teams $2million if he could keep quiet and let him go and that he offered to provide the cash in 48 hours.

On Tuesday 2 July 2019 precisely, Abba Kyari’s team successfully rescued the District Head of Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar-Uba who was abducted on 1 May in his home town Daura, Katsina State by some unknown gun men.

Kyari led a team that arrested the killers of former Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) Air Marshal Alex Badeh ‘rtd’ along Keffi-Gitata Kaduna Road, as well as the arrest of the most wanted Boko-Haram Commander, Umar Abdulmalik and eight of his terrorists gang members.

Kyari also led his team to arrest 22 Boko-Haram terrorist gang members responsible for the kidnap of the Chibok School girls in 2014 and also responsible for series of suicide bombings/several attacks and ambush against security Agents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.

Kyari’s fame shot up when in 2019, he led a crack police team to bust a most wanted Taraba kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Wadume.

Wadume was the ‘high profile’ kidnapping suspect arrested by the police on August 6, 2019. He was being driven to Jalingo by the police team when soldiers opened fire on them along Ibi-Wukari Road, killing three police officers and a civilian.

His team captured the most deadly kidnapper in the history of Nigeria, Henry Chibueze aka “Vampire” in Owerri, Imo State and his gang members and also arrested the deadly Offa bank robbers that invaded Offa town, Kwara State and robbed five commercial banks, among others.

But just as the ovations were getting louder, our beloved super cop, the man who had hitherto been viwed as a terror to all criminal elements anywhere in the country was catapulted from the pinnacle of success down the abyss of failure via an unenviable route of corruption.

Kyari’s name was mentioned in one of the biggest international scandals involving Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi.

Hushpuppi in U.S. court papers, claimed he once bribed Kyari to do a hatchet job for him, by arresting a colleague, Kelly Chibuzo Vincent.

Kyari’s name surfaced in court papers, indicting Hushpuppi and four other Nigerians and a Kenyan in the swindling of a Qatari businessman, looking for a $15million loan to build a school.

ABBA KYARI

Vincent is 40 years-old and the Kenyan was 28 year-old Abdulrahman Imraan Juma, a.k.a. “Abdul.

Hushpuppi and gang lied to the man they could arrange the loan at Well Fargo in the U.S. But the man lost $1.1 million in the ensuing transactions.

When a dispute broke out over the sharing of the loot between Hushpuppi and Vincent, Hushpuppi called Abba Kyari to get Vincent arrested.

“Court documents outline a dispute among members of the conspiracy, which allegedly prompted Vincent to contact the victim and claim that Abbas and Juma were engaged in fraud.

“After this contact, Abbas allegedly arranged to have Vincent jailed in Nigeria by Abba Alhaji Kyari, 46, of Nigeria.

“According to the affidavit, Kyari is alleged to have arranged for Vincent to be arrested and jailed at Abbas’ behest, and then sent Abbas photographs of Vincent after his arrest.

”Kyari also allegedly sent Abbas bank account details for an account into which Abbas could deposit payment for Vincent’s arrest and imprisonment,” the statement by the California Attorney’s office said.

FBI Special Agent, Andrew Innocenti, had said he obtained voice calls and WhatsApp conversations between Kyari and Hushpuppi, adding that Hushpuppi also paid the police officer 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 ordered the FBI to arrest Kyari but the IGP and the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) evasively continued to shield Kyari till this moment.

Surprisingly, while he was still battling to extricate himself from being extradited to the USA to face trial, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has alleged his involvement in drug dealing.

According to the NDLEA, Kyari belonged to a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline. He has been arrested and is being detained by the Agency.

Now the questions are coming in. What went wrong for Kyari? Was he a criminal using police connections to enrich himself and perpetrate his evil works? Was he a mafia kigpin in uniform? Are there more like him still in service?

All these and many more are begging for answers.