Abba Kyari, Fine, Fine Nigerian
By Okey Ndibe
Abba Kyari
Wasn’t it just like yesterday that Nigeria’s officialdom, media and others toasted Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, as arguably the country’s finest officer? When the man’s name was mentioned, it was often bracketed with the descriptor “super cop.” He led the elite Intelligence Response Team (IRT) at police headquarters, overseeing high-profile investigations. Indeed, he was credited as the ferocious nemesis of Nigeria’s biggest criminals. Among the stalwart criminals he took down was the so-called “billionaire kidnapper,” Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike (aka Evans). His fan club included first lady Aisha Buhari and the country’s central legislature.
Abba Kyari with his family walking out of court
Then, of a sudden, Kyari’s stock went into free fall. It began with his July 29, 2021 indictment by American prosecutors. US officials portrayed Kyari as a sort of Man Friday to Ramon Abbass, a notorious scam artist better known as Hushpuppi. He apparently did Hushpuppi’s bidding by detaining one of the fraudster’s crime rivals. Court filings accuse him of being one of Hushpuppi’s five conspirators in a scheme to defraud a Qatari businessman of $1.1 million.
Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi in Dubai
Until his arrest in Dubai, Hushpuppi presided over an international multi-million dollar fraud operation. He was unabashed in his opulence and self-worship, a flaunter of expensive automobiles and haute couture.
Hushpuppi (left), Kyari (right)
Kyari’s entanglement with the flamboyant fraudster was at once shocking and in character. For a man whose charge was to net crime honchos, Kyari hankered after a glitzy lifestyle. He partied hard. He cultivated the image of a sartorial pacesetter. He rather enjoyed the company of Nigeria’s parvenu, even those with shady reputations.
Abba in a high profile club
He was cast, in effect, in the mold of the perfect public official in Nigeria. No, he didn’t seek to live the kind of austere and self-disregarding life to be expected of a top crime buster. Instead, he gambled on living large and hobnobbing with whomever he pleased. In a country where audacious make-belief often trumps reality, he counted on the media to fawn over him, invest him with unearned credit, and burnish his credentials as a top rate law enforcement officer.
Kyari at a social gathering
Had US investigators not cottoned up to Hushpuppi’s crime sprees, odds are that Kyari’s alleged moonlighting as a criminal might have remained well hidden. Only after Kyari was identified as Hushpuppi’s partner in crime did Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police suspend him. Which invites the question: is it really the case that the Nigerian police had no prior inkling of their star officer’s double life?
Alkali Baba Usman the Inspector General of Police of the Nigeria Police Force since 2021
Mohammed Adamu (left), Ibrahim Kpotun Idris (right), previous Inspector Generals of the Nigeria Police, with President Muhammadu Buhari
I doubt it. If the Nigerian police remained blissfully unaware that one of their number had gone rogue, then the institution is more wretched than one ever suspected. For me, a more plausible scenario is that many of Kyari’s superiors and subordinates knew about his—to put it euphemistically—questionable ways. If he went undetected for so long, it was less out of institutional ignorance than the fact that he operated within an environment where criminal impunity was fertilized, not checkmate.
Abba Kyari (left) at an event
If American officials had not “spoiled show,” as the lingo goes, Kyari would have been decorated with national honors (chieftaincy titles, alhajiships etc) all the way to his eventual, near-inevitable investiture as the IG of Police!
How do you recognize a climate that is hospitable to crime? How about this vignette? Despite his suspension from the police, Kyari seemed in no haste to insulate himself from the whiff of criminal activity. On February 14, 2022, officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) released an undercover video in which the suspended commissioner was allegedly enmeshed in a drug deal. In a statement, the agency described Kyari as “a member of a drug cartel that operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.”
Kyari walking into the vehicle of the drug sting
Two weeks ago, Attorney General Abubakar Malami announced that the Nigerian government had commenced the process of sending the disgraced cop to the US for trial. On social media, many Nigerians cheered the development. Kyari had had a reputation as an implacable brutalizer during his stint with the dreaded Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS). Finally, many reasoned, America would (indirectly) avenge his victims.
Abba Kyari (center) walking into a raid
In an inexplicable, typically Nigerian twist, the same Malami came out a few days ago with a different tune. There was no evidence, he declared, that Kyari participated in Hushpuppi’s money laundering activities.
Just like that, Kyari regained his seat as one of the fine, fine Nigerians who teach the world all about probity, selflessness, and integrity. Talk about the law speaking from both sides of the mouth!
Malami’s volte-face will spoil the day for many Nigerians. I am anxious for Kyari to be held to account. I also know that his trial in Nigeria would be easily subject to manipulation. Even so, I have taken a less sanguine view of the matter.
Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s Attorney General
The hysteria over Kyari’s looming comeuppance in America risks mistaking a small symptom as the disease. Nigerians should realize that they’re saddled with many Kyaris among their police officers. The trial and jailing of one specimen does little—in fact, nothing—to fix a fundamentally corrupt, inept and ill-equipped agency. Instead of fighting crime, the police often enforce lawlessness and disorder. Law abiding Nigerians fear the police far more than criminals do.
The first page of the U.S Department of Justice filing against Deputy Commissioner Abba Kyari
Kyari’s fate reminds me of the saga of former Governor James Ibori of Delta State. The loquacious Ibori was tried for corruption in his home state, and cleared of all charges by a judge. But when British authorities nabbed him, the ex-Governor realized he wasn’t going to bamboozle serious prosecutors and a seasoned judge. Quickly he entered a guilty plea, earning a 13-year jail sentence.
Here’s part of what I wrote following Ibori’s sentencing: “We all know that there are many Iboris out there. What’s worse, the Nigerian system daily manufactures and graduates many more Iboris. These new Iboris daily enter the leeching enterprise. They take to that despicable business of a few dispossessing the many, tiny cohorts aggrandizing themselves by seizing the public harvest and doing with it as they please.”
James Ibori (right) at a welcome party after his release from U.K. prison
The same point applies to Kyari. By all means, let him be extradited to the US to answer for his crimes. But let’s take seriously the task of instituting a system that detects and punishes criminals within Nigeria. Let’s harness our energies toward dismantling the current system. It not only shields but also lionizes the likes of Kyari—until they happen to run afoul of American or British law.
