Kyari defends self before police panelAbba Kyari, the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), appeared before the special investigation panel headed by the deputy Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in-charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Joseph Egbunike, at Force headquarters, Abuja on Tuesday.
According to a source, the panel began sitting on Monday.
The FBI had claimed that Kyari detained one Kelly Chibuzor on the order of Hushpuppi for one month to enable the latter and his co-conspirators fleece their Qatari victim of over $1m. The agency also said Hushpuppi paid $20,600 to two bank accounts allegedly provided by Kyari in January 20, 2020.
The IGP Alkali Baba set up the panel following Kyari’s alleged involvement in a $1.1m Internet fraud allegedly perpetrated by suspected wire fraudster, Abbas Ramon, popularly known as ‘Hushpuppi’, and five others.
Details of Kyari’s defence have not been disclosed to the public. Kyari’s replacement as head of the police Intelligence Response Team, DCP Tunji Disu, resumed office on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Borno State governor, Babagana Zulum, and his predecessor, Senator Kashim Shettima, do not know Kyari’s residence, let alone pay him a visit, Zulum’s spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau, has clarified.
Gusau said he resorted to issuing the clarification since Kyari, who promised to issue the clarification, did not do so, more than four hours after making the promise to the spokesman.
Gusau said a video in circulation was recorded by some associates of Kyari at the residence of Shettima in Abuja on June 30, 2021, when Kyari paid an empathy visit to Shettima following rumours that the senator had died in the UK.
Kyari himself had shared the same video on his verified Facebook wall on June 30, shortly after he visited Shettima. Kyari, who hails from Borno State and particularly Shettima’s constituency, visited the former governor to wish him well like many others did.
This came as the national coordinator of Concerned Advocate for Good Governance (CAGG), Olusegun Bamgbose, offered legal assistance to Kyari.
Bamgbose, in a statement made available to The Guardian in Owerri, urged the Federal Government not to abandon Kyari, whom he described as one of the finest officers Nigeria has ever produced. He said he had consulted with three law firms in the United States and that one has offered to defend Kyari.
