It is very safe to posit that the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) is one of the worst in the world! A complete disaster drenched in filth and mostly populated by rogues. Many people didn’t clearly understand the severity of this problem until the news of the dirty escapades of Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari hit them like a bombshell.
The recent unboxing of Abba Kyari was an event that left many Nigerians bewildered. The graphic details of his activities more than anything showed that the Nigerian police operate with a high level of insanity.
The stench in the Nigerian Police Force was the catalyst behind the nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality in 2020 but rather than scratch the rot, the protest was brought to a halt with the grim Lekki tollgate shootings. The needed reform didn’t happen and sadly, the sore has grown worse. Today, many Nigerian citizens no longer look up to the country’s security apparatus for protection any longer, rather they pray not to encounter them in their daily dealings. That is how bad it has become.
It is a sad phenomenon to note that, over the years, Nigeria has derailed in every sphere. The Nigerian system which is afflicted with a poignant leadership disaster has continued to get worse, year after year. This explains why the country’s affairs are currently being managed by criminals and political ‘bandits’ and to make matters more complicated, the security agencies are nothing to write home about. The only idea in their heads has remained fashioning out ways of ripping off the ordinary citizen while also sabotaging the country’s worn out security architecture. This clearly explains why insecurity is on a geometric rise.
The self-acclaimed ‘super cop’ called Abba Kyari is perhaps one of the biggest scams Nigerians have ever bought in recent times. He rose from a sandstorm to become a so-called ‘super hero’ by arresting Evans, the most wanted popular kidnapper at the time. The arrest of Evans threw Kyari into the limelight that appeared to have earned him international recognition. As a result of this, he became a public figure and celebrity of some sort. That particular outing was good enough to earn him acclamation from his superiors, plausible publicity from the news media, and veneration from the Nigerian public.
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This self-acclaimed ‘super cop’ managed to conceal his inner identity and continued to play on the intelligence of the average Nigerians who saw him as a worthy role model. He went on to try stunts upon stunts and most times, came on social media to discuss how he risked his life to save Nigerians from all sorts of crimes. As expected, this often earned him accolades and his fortunes grew higher.
The first red light came shinning when it was discovered that Kyari was friends with fraudsters like Hushpuppi, who lived more extravagantly than any Saudi Prince while sustaining the garrulous lifestyle as well as a number of Nigerian politicians and businessmen with question marks hovering around their sources of income. This fears were soon confirmed when the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finally busted Kyari’s bubble when it revealed the conversations between Ramon Olorunwa Abass, popularly known as Hushpuppi, and Kyari while he was still in charge of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
According to the conversations which were contained in the indictment papers, Hushpuppi allegedly arranged with Kyari, to have Chibuzor (another fraudster) arrested and imprisoned in Nigeria for attempting to redirect proceeds of fraud intended for him (Hushpuppi) to himself. The scheme was to fraudulently obtain and launder at least $1,124,426.36 from their Qatari victim. Such a shame!
In shame, he was suspended and a wishy-washy panel set up to investigate the details of the FBI’s indictment against him. The goal of the panel was to buy time, allow the matter to fade from public memory and then quietly dispose of the matter. The thinking in the top echelon of the police and the Fulani oligarchy was that the suspended Kyari knows quite a lot about the inner workings of Nigeria’s security architecture and has dirty secrets of many politicians and the police hierarchy and can’t be handed over to the FBI. The panel dragged its foot from July, 2021 and finally recommended only ‘a one-step demotion and reprimand’ for all his crimes.
It is true that the news of the fall of Kyari hit many Nigerians like a bombshell when it broke, but unknown to them, something bigger was coming. A few months down the line, Kyari was once again fingered in a web of illicit activities, this time, he wasn’t working as an emergency courier man for fraudsters like Hushpuppi, no, he upgraded his game this time. He was caught pants down as a member of an international drug cartel, who was in the business of aiding and abetting drug trafficking in the country.
This one was even more shocking. Many people soon began to wonder how a Kyari, who was supposedly on suspension, was still able to be running operations with his team members and attempting to sell part of the cocaine they confiscated as a policeman. The truth remains that, the rot is so deep and this anomaly cuts across the entire police force.
Over the years, the Nigerian political system has harboured a lot of criminals with very deceitful characters, that is why dangerous people like Abba Kyari managed to get to the top and were even celebrated. To even think that this is the same man who the National Assembly gave several awards and even a rare standing ovation is even more nauseating.
It is sad that it is exactly the same people who are being entrusted with duties of enforcing the law that use the privilege to abuse the office and positions they occupy. Most times, criminally minded top security officers are the ones that ensure that many high-profile cases that involve murder, kidnapping and other criminal offences are swept under the carpet for a price. They do this by misplacing files, siting on reports or even killing dissident voices. Where is the justice? Nigeria needs national healing.
The whole episode simply shows that Abba Kyari who was once a ‘supremo’ in the dreaded SARS unit is a criminal on uniform that hunted and gravely attacked other criminals like him, including innocent people whom he subjected to severe torture while some victims whom he left either terribly traumatised or killed in the process of torture. Many allegations abound as to how some people were forced to make false confessions under duress just for the self-styled ‘super cop’ to get more ranks and get the attention of the international community.
If the Nigerian Police Force still has any atom of shame, then it must come clear with Nigerians this time. Why is it taking forever to come up with a report on the almost unending investigation on Abba Kyari? Has the arraignment of the crook by the NDLEA swallowed the whole investigations? Nigerians needs answers.
Talking about investigations, it is interesting to note that while the whole thing was on, a key figure in the investigations of Kyari by name, DIG Egbunike mysteriously slumped and died! The Nigerian police must tell the world the truth about his death. If his death was a natural one, then the Nigerian tax paying public deserves to be told so with proof.
Moving forward, the Inspector General of Police must, with all sense of patriotism and without any delay, dismiss Abba Kyari from the Nigeria Police Force and do everything within his power to ensure that he extradited him to the United States immediately.
The National Assembly on the part who have remained silent owe it to their conscience to immediately withdraw the salute and awards they gave him while his scam lasted. Again, without prejudice, all cases prosecuted by Abba Kyari should be re-examined by an independent body. A criminal cannot successfully prosecute a criminal.
Finally, the Fulani oligarchy in Nigeria has been playing games upon games to give Kyari a soft landing. No one without such backing would have survived up till this time without been extradited and dismissed from the Force given the gravity of the crimes Kyari allegedly committed. Almost one month after Abba Kyari was exposed as a drug baron, and he is yet to be paraded by NDLEA, EFCC, or the Police publicly. Even during his arraignment, he wasn’t even on handcuffs. Meanwhile, the same agencies have continued to parade other ‘lesser Nigerians’ ever since. The double standards must end. The Fulani oligarchy needs to realise that the game is up and do the needful. The investigators that nailed him in the fraud case involving Hushpuppi did not get their jobs using quota systems neither did they rise through the ranks by nepotism. Nigeria must be saved from this shame.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK