Abba Kyari: The fullness of time -By Jerry Uzezi Edo

For several years, Abba Kyari’s image loomed large like that of the Colossus in the firmament of law enforcement in Nigeria, especially in the megacity of Lagos and the neighbouring Southwestern states. He was a law unto himself and even his superiors kowtowed to him and peeped under his huge legs that bestrode the narrow world of policing in the country.

Kyari was the Mr Fix it of the Nigerian Police. He was deplored to troubled spots and assigned the knottiest cases. And in most cases, he got results. His methodology albeit unorthodox never bothered the general public. The results he got excited us. For a people—not used to a result-achieving police force— we applauded him. He was dubbed the super cop and venerated to high heavens. Garlands started adorning his neck as various authorities and institutions jostled to confer him with awards. To name a few, he was conferred with the Presidential Medal for Courage in April 2016 and declared the 2018 Africa’s Best Detective and presented with Silverbird Group’s Best Officer of the Decade Award.

Mr Kyari got drunk in the praises and accolades. He forgot easily that as a police officer, he was a civil servant and should act like one. Rather he chose a celebrity lifestyle, rolling and rocking with the big boys of the land. He made social media his virtual office and revelled in the glitz and glamour that goes with it. He would share on his social media platforms, pictures of himself in the company of music stars, billionaire business people and the Nigerian high society. In turn, he got the likes and comments that only famous celebrities could muster.

But unbeknownst to the celebrity worship Nigerian public, Kyari was as much a lawbreaker as an enforcer of the law. Our super cop as it turned out, was involved in skullduggery of all shades including suspected membership of a drug-smuggling cartel and aiding and abetting internet fraud.

With so much trust in him by his employers and the general public, Abba Kyari must have believed he could do anything and get away with it. Using his exalted and privileged offices as head of the then Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) as well as the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT), he did everything and anything for filthy lucre. Even when a few voices were raised, alerting the nation of his nefarious activities, no one paid attention or cared to listen. Abba Kyari had become a law unto himself.

Given such a toxic evolution to an untouchable cop in a country with very weak institutions, including the police force, it did seem that it would only be at the fullness of time that the transgressions of Kyari would be brought to the limelight.

That fullness of time came perhaps, sooner than we expected with his suspension by the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba for his alleged connection to the convicted fraudster Hushpuppi as well as his arrest on Monday, 14th of February 2022 over the indictment by the anti-drug trafficking agency (NDLEA,) that accused him of involvement in trafficking 25kg cocaine by a drug cartel operating the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.

Certainly, in the days to come, more can of worms would be opened as investigations continue into the allegations levied against the erstwhile super cop.