Abba Kyari: Beyond one man’s personal tragedy

Abba Kyari: Beyond one man’s personal tragedy

The most common reaction to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) bombshell accusing suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, of being a kingpin of an international drug ring operating the Brazil-Nigeria-Ethiopia route, has been astonishment.

But this shouldn’t be so because we’ve seen over time how the cocktail of money, power and ambition can become a powerful incentive for deviant behaviour.

In the 80s, General Manuel Noriega, military ruler of Panama, long an ally of the United States and collaborator with its intelligence agencies, was toppled by US forces and made to face trial in America. In 1988, he was indicted by federal grand juries on charges of racketeering, drug smuggling, and money laundering. He was sentenced to 40 years in jail but served just 17 years on account of good conduct.

Kyari is actually a disaster that’s been waiting to happen because this isn’t the first time he and his team have been accused of engaging in conduct unbecoming of police officers. Most of those allegations never got traction because of the halo that had built up around this ‘uncommon’ officer.

His association with the bursting of some of the most sensational crime stories of recent years like the apprehension of suspected billionaire kidnapper Evans, the arrest of notorious kidnappers operating along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway among others, only helped to burnish his image.

But there’s always been something fake about the media promotion of the exploits of Kyari and his team. All those made-for-Facebook photos of them in action looked too staged. They came across as poor actors in a badly-produced Nollywood movie. Many who actively participated in enabling this ‘Supercop’ narrative must be squirming in embarrassment now.

But even in the face of what we now know, he must still be presumed innocent until the courts find him guilty. That said, video recordings and photographs capturing him participating in a felonious act are past embarrassing.

So also was the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indictment linking him with suspected cybercriminal and money launderer, Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi. That agency long ago established a reputation that produced the popular saying ‘The Feds always get their man.’ They wouldn’t rush out an indictment against a powerful figure in a friendly nation if they didn’t have the goods on him.

Despite the voluminous material produced by the Americans, the Federal Government and Nigerian Police have laboured to act either to facilitate Kyari’s extradition to face US charges or clear him unconditionally.

The latest episode was the Police Service Commission (PSC) delaying a decision and asking the Force to conduct another investigation.

By taking the nuclear option and going public with its findings, the NDLEA forced the hands of government – causing it to throw Kyari to the wolves.

Many swear that the way his profile was being burnished, he was on the fast track to becoming Inspector General of Police. Such speculations make you shudder to think that scenario could have become reality.

But this isn’t just about the tragic fall of an individual who was being prepared for greater things. He has been fed into the processing line and will get his day in court hopefully. However, the saga raises many questions begging for answers.

First is how he managed to stay in position despite the plethora of allegations of corruption and abuse of office levelled against him over the years. These charges now have a ring of credibility around them. But would they be revisited?

The DCP was supposedly on suspension but was apparently still exercising some form of supervisory control over the so-called Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT). How is it possible that this was allowed to happen? There should be clarification as to the nature of his relationship with his team during suspension.

The disclosures are damaging for the IRT, suggesting it may be deeply tainted or compromised. Like every organisation it would have honest, conscientious and hardworking officers. But the activities of rogue officers have invited scrutiny as to how it functions. It was such abuse that caused government to dismantle the former Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Can the IRT be allowed to carry on business as usual with the heavy cloud of suspicion that has now settled over it?

The NDLEA allegations again underline the impunity of the powerful in Nigeria. The police in the UK just sent a questionnaire to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the probe of his possible breach of COVID-19 regulations. But here we see a police officer repeatedly ignoring the invitation of a law enforcement agency.

We’ve seen this happening in different ways at different level. Individuals who secured judgments against federal and state governments, the police and army, have no hope of ever enjoying the fruit of their judicial victory because those who should enforce such rulings have no respect for the rule of law.

The reason Kyari is in custody isn’t because of any change in behaviour by the authorities; it’s because someone decided to splatter the mess all over the public domain making any possible cover-up impossible.

The NDLEA celebrated the officer who blew the whistle on the deal and he deserves to be celebrated. Some others could have quietly accepted the cash and clammed up.

But the transformational work General Mohammed Marwa (rtd) has done there notwithstanding, no one should delude themselves that the agency is made up only of angels.

The police in their response to the Kyari scandal pointedly claimed NDLEA officers were in cahoots with drug barons – even the group linked to the latest bust. How deep does this go and how long has it been going on? The business of tampering with drug exhibits certainly didn’t start in January 2022.

The whole country is chattering over the scandal. It is titillating, juicy gossip material. We are enthralled by every new detail of one man’s personal tragedy, but in this sad story we are confronted with further evidence of our moral decline.

How is possible that such a senior officer who’s supposed to be on the side of the light and the law has been entrapped fraternising ever so comfortably with agents of darkness, in a manner that suggests it wasn’t a one off? To think that Kyari is the only such sinner in Nigeria today, is to live a lie.

Beyond the titillation, serious minded people should be asking how to reverse the nation’s moral decline such that faith in institutions is restored and people can once again differentiate between what is right and wrong.