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The Hushpuppi In DCP Abba Kyari, By Ozodinukwe Okenwa

August 2, 2021

In the end, even before Kanu's abduction and rendition from Nairobi, Kenya, Kyari and his team had done a great job by decapitating the IPOB/ESN 'terrorism'.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, is the so-called super cop who works as the leader of the Inspector-General of Police's Intelligence Response Team. When the incarcerated Nnamdi Kanu's Eastern Security Network or the "unknown gunmen" were running berserk in the south-east raiding police stations and prisons, killing security officers, and torching critical national infrastructures DCP Kyari was one of those 'intelligent' officers assembled by the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, and sent to neutralise the budding threat of secession by the Indigenous People of Biafra and their ESN paramilitary affiliate. In the end, even before Kanu's abduction and rendition from Nairobi, Kenya, Kyari and his team had done a great job by decapitating the IPOB/ESN 'terrorism'.

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His name rings a bell because it is a name we were used to. Another Abba Kyari, late, was not a police officer but a 'bloody' civilian who worked in the presidency as President Muhammadu Buhari's Chief of Staff before Coronavirus pandemic took him brutally away last year. The two Kyaris hail from Borno state, a militarised state up north where Boko Haram and other affiliated terrorists elect their home and headquarters.

 

Abba Kyari, the 'super cop', is reputed to be very good in what he does, detective policing, yet his impact had never been felt in his home state ravaged by terrorism and terrorists. The late Abba Kyari, a trained banker, lawyer and journalist before he went into politics, was known to be shrewd and professional in the presidency yet Maiduguri remained a bloody city ruled by arms and violence. What that taught us, if any lesson could be learnt, is that rather than charity beginning at the homefront it sought to emanate from elsewhere.

 

Recently a scandal of international dimension had broken out involving the American justice system, the 'super cop' and one notorious fraudster named Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, alias Hushpuppi. Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai last year following years of multi-billion Dollars internet scam. He is presently standing trial for multiple wire fraud in the United States of America. He has pleaded guilty to various charges, including money laundering, wire fraud, and felony, among others. And he is awaiting sentencing in due course.

 

But more than pleading guilty for defrauding the unsuspecting 'clients' scattered around the world (he had no option faced with some hard evidence) Hushpuppi confessed to the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that a senior police officer in Nigeria, Abba Kyari, was his local godfather assisting him in doing the dirty jobs in Nigeria for a handsome fee!

 

According to Hushpuppi he had used DCP Abba Kyari to jail a fellow fraudster, Kelly Chibuzor Vincent, in Nigeria after both were locked in a dispute presumably over how to share the $1.1million loot received from the Qatari businessperson. Kelly was arrested and tortured and detained at the behest of Hushpuppi by Kyari and hs lawless gang. Kyari was a former Commander of the dreaded disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) accused of multiple crimes and human rights abuses.

 

The Americans are interested in Kyari because he was linked to the gigantic fraud case under adjudication in the States. By using him to deal with a fellow scammer then Kyari stands accused as a 'godfather' of fraudsters. By sending over a bank account or two through which Hushpuppi wired back some money in appreciation of the intimidation and incarceration suffered by Kelly Kyari knew what he was doing and who was sending him on an errand.

 

The same Hushpuppi was said to have hosted Kyari in Dubai where he had a great time of his life! He never asked him the source of his livelihood nor interrogated his obscene luxurious lifestyle. And now that Americans have joined the fray in defense of justice Kyari is singing like a broken record.

 

With an air of braggadocio Abba Kyari has been sounding haughtily defensive and dismissive. He admitted doing Hushpuppi's bidding for a huge fee by having a home-based scammer apprehended and locked up. But he said he never sent him to the court or harmed him because he found out that it was a personal feud involving two business partners. He equally admitted running an errand for the big 'yahoo-yahoo' boy by delivering some commanded fashionable accessories to him.

 

There is a Hushpuppi in almost every Nigerian! We steal what we do not need and neglect what we need in terms of societal evolution. If Hushpuppi were to have been arrested and tried in Nigeria then justice would not have been served as his trial would have been embroiled in judicial technicalities and surreptitious interventions by his godfathers (including the embattled Kyari).

 

Hushpuppi could have easily wriggled himself out with his illicit funds or connections. The trial of scammers or political swindlers had not been a huge success in Nigeria because our justice system is compromised and weak as an institution. Sometimes the Judges seek to emulate the executive or legislative rogues who steal with impunity by taking their own 'cut' of the national cake!

 

Now that DCP Kyari has been linked to the Hushpuppi busted international fraud syndicate it remains to be seen if the case could be proven beyond reasonable doubt of their partnership in crime. But there is no doubt that he was a 'friend' to the Hushpuppi of a con-man. What joined them together was the proceed of crime.

 

President Muhammadu Buhari is presently in London taking good care of his fragile health. And now that the FBI are demanding relentlessly that Kyari should be handed over to them for interrogation and posssible prosecution in deference to an arrest warrant issued by a competent jurisdiction back home the President ought to show leadership by handing him over.

 

When the incarcerated former Chief of Staff to the Congolese President, Vital Kamerhe, was accused of embezzling millions of Dollars President Felix Tshisekedi promptly handed him over to justice for trial. Kamerhe had been tried and found guilty and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment! But unfortunately Congo is not Nigeria and Tshisekedi not Buhari.

 

We hail the 'super cop', DCP Abba 'Hushpuppi' Kyari for aiding and abetting international sophisticated swindlers. When he was with the banned SARS Kyari was said to have extorted a citizen of millions of Naira! Of course he has blood of innocent Nigerians in his hands!

 

His case reminds us of the late George Iyamu, a high-profile officer in Benin City, who supplied the late dare-devil armed robber, Lawrence Anini, with ammunitions and useful information with which he prospered criminally and evaded police arrest for a long time before they met their waterloo. Hushpuppi may not be Anini and Kyari not Iyamu but there is this crucial case of a law enforcement officer wilfully aiding and abetting a criminal for a fee.

 

Now that the partner in crime, Kyari, has been 'Hushpuppied' we can only advocate for justce to take its natural course. Suspending him is not enough though a commendable step by the Police Service Commission. Let justice be served to whoever deserves it, for good or bad.

 

SOC Okenwa

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