He was a no-nonsense cop famous for apprehending notorious criminals – Boko Haram terrorists, armed robbers, kidnappers, bank robbers, serial rapists and ritual killers. Years of high-profile arrests won him acclaim and the enduring nickname: “super cop.” The former head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) was credited with tracking down masterminds behind suicide bombings that devastated Nigerian cities. He was held him in high esteem, and President Buhari awarded him a medal for courage. Now, Abba Kyari, Deputy Commissioner of the Nigerian Police Force, (DCP), stands accused of abusing his power to support a global fraud and scamming ring. Kyari, 46, is wanted in America on charges related to wire fraud and money laundering, according to documents unsealed in the US District Court of California. The US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) indicted Kyari over his involvement in a $1.1million fraud committed by Nigeria’s most infamous scammer and notorious internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas Olarewaju, aka Hushpuppi. This is another blight on the toga of the battered image of the Nigerian police in addition to being the shame of a nation. What is more, the sad development has no redeeming value to national security, let alone, democracy.
The incident has reinforced public cynicism that in Nigeria, everything or everybody has an exchange value. The FBI said Abbas, currently in a US jail, paid Kyari $20,600 (N8million) to arrest and detain fellow fraudster, Chibuzo Kelly Vincent for betraying his cybercrime syndicate. Kyari has denied any wrongdoing and is currently facing an investigation panel headed by DIG Joseph Egbunike, following his suspension by the Police Service Commission (PSC). In April, Abbas pleaded guilty to fraud charges in California, according to court records and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Before police arrested him in Dubai last year, Abbas paraded himself as an ultra-wealthy real estate developer. In reality, he admitted in court that he ran a scamming operation that tricked victims out of $24 million. At least $1.1 million of that amount was supposed to open a school for children in Qatar. Abbas kept some of the stolen funds in American bank accounts, according to court records. When the scammer needed help when one of his co-conspirators, Chibuzo turned on him, he turned to Kyari, saying Chibuzo should be beaten “like [an] armed robber,” according to the indictment. “Please sir I want to spend money to send this boy to jail,” Abbas wrote. “Let him go for a very long time.” Kyari later responded on WhatsApp, with a photo of Chibuzo in jail; then sent over bank details for payment. The account was not listed in his name.
Court records show that Abbas paid the Nigerian police to do his bidding and settle his personal scores. Abbas also promised to “take care of the team also after they pick him (Chibuzo) up.” Kyari confirmed “Yes ooo.” The FBI said, based on the conversations, Abbas paid the Nigeria Police Force officers who arrested Chibuzo for that service. It further alleged, “This was not the only time that Abbas arranged payments with Kyari”, adding, “On May 20, 2020, Abbas sent Kyari transaction receipts for two transactions from accounts at Nigerian banks (GTBank and Zenith Bank) of a person Abbas knew in the UAE- a person also arrested with Abbas in Abbas’ apartment in the UAE by Dubai Police on June 9, 2020 – to the Nigerian bank accounts of another person in Nigeria.
If there was ever any doubt that greed rules in Nigeria, that the only reason many seek public offices is the material gain therein, the gluttony and blatant corruption in this sordid affair, is a perfect illustration of this mercantilist culture where it is believed everyone, including the president of the federal republic has a price. The degree of travesty with which Kyari was prepared to engage in Abbas’ pay-to-play scheme was indeed beyond embarrassing. The insensitivity is simply mind-boggling and inexcusable. For a police officer, the impropriety was pathetic, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. By this singular act of professional callousness, dancing in mockery even as the human rights of Chibuzo were being trampled upon with impunity, Kyari advertised a certain hollowness in morality that dragged the Nigerian police and the nation down to a hitherto unprecedented low in moral and ethical degeneration. This is an unbelievable shame; Nigerians deserve a full explanation for this national embarrassment and international disgrace.
Many Nigerians of conscience have been left to wonder how the highest levels of the police force can be so imprudent. Indeed, more sinister motives can be inferred from this buffoonery but far more than anger or anything else it engendered, questions must be asked: what manner of man indulges in such despicable and indecorous conduct? What goes on in the mind of such a person? Pray, on whose authority did Kyari indulge in such high level official rascality and imprudent exercise of power? How can anyone justify such a willfully unscrupulous and vainglorious proclivity for materialistic wooliness and self-centered pedestrianism in the name of the Nigerian police? The motive aside, this sad episode advertises a certain pettiness at the highest level of the nation’s leadership.
Whatever the case, this debauchment is a clear demonstration of how low the image and reputation of the Nigerian police has now gravitated. Hopefully, the panel probing the scandal will throw the book at Kyari to deter others; and in the process, at least mitigate the public betrayal signified by his actions, which are neither edifying to the country, nor to the police’s image. Importantly, the time is ripe to put in place a more rigorous structure of recruiting law enforcement personnel, both to ensure that the right caliber of people are employed; and to protect the public image of the police institution from unscrupulous members. Aside the abuse of public trust and erosion of public confidence, abusing the police uniform sends a bad signal to the public because it erodes people’s confidence in the police. The image of the police has been so dented to the extent that members of the public now see police checkpoints as armed robbers’ locations.
As an institution set up to maintain law and order in the society, policemen should learn to rise above petty crime or be ready for the consequence. It is not acceptable that those entrusted with securing life and property, work at cross purposes to their calling, as epitomized in the declaration by former IGP, Sunday Ehindero, years back, that there were armed robbers in the Police. Another IGP, Mike Okiro, had cause to order the arrest of a Commissioner of Police and his team over allegation of gross abuse of office, fraud, conspiracy, forgery and abuse of public trust. Yet, the police are only partly culpable. They are merely servants of the government and are inadequately motivated or equipped, compared with the police departments of countries Nigeria looks up to. The prospect of a proud law enforcement career remains a mirage to most policemen amidst daunting corruption, which makes it difficult for the force to advance. To bring hope to the police will necessitate improved and adequate funding of the force and improved welfare package for policemen. State governments have a role to play in ensuring that the anticipated reforms of the police become a reality.
By his perfunctory action, Kyari impoverished the sobriety and dignity of the Nigerian police force in ways that ridiculed not only the Police, but the entire country. It will be dignifying if a thorough probe is done to reveal the depth of this national shame. For, after all is considered, the police force, is a call to national duty and only the ready, willing, and able deserve it. The IGP should not do, and must never condone in his men, the conversion of their offices into a platform to advertise their profligacy to embroil the country in governance anomie. This scandal is a telling sign of a weak governance culture that does no good to the Police’s reputation or the country’s image.
