Court orders remand of DCP Abba Kyari in Kuje Prisons
A Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered the remand of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Abba Kyari in the Kuje Correction Centre.
Justice Emeka Nwite gave the order after rejecting the bail application of Kyari and his co-defendants on Monday.
Justice Nwite, who also turned down the bail plea of four of Kyari’s accomplices in the Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector General of Police, also ordered them to be remanded in the Kuje Correctional Centre.
The four suspended officers are ACP Sunday Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu.
The judge, however, ordered Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, the two alleged drug traffickers that were arrested at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, to be remanded in Suleja Correctional Centre.
Umeibe and Ezenwanne, who are 6th and 7th. defendants respectively, had pleaded guilty to five, six and seven counts preferred against them.
Although their names were also mentioned in counts three and four where allegations bordering on conspiracy were leveled against Kyari and others, they were not asked to take a plea on these two counts.
Justice Nwite, held that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had placed sufficient evidence before the court to refuse the bail plea of Kyari’s co-defendants.
NDLEA counsel, Joseph Sunday, had in a counter affidavit, argued in his submission that it would be inappropriate to grant bail to Kyari because of the facts and circumstances of the case.
The anti-narcotic agency’s lawyer described Kyari as “a flight risk,” adding that if granted bail, the suspended DCP might jump bail.
Sunday posited that the applicant might interfere with evidence if granted bail, and urged the court to dismiss Kyari’s bail plea.
He further argued that the medical challenges of the applicant were not beyond the capacity of the agency’s medical personnel.
Ruling on the matter the Judge , aligned with NDLEA’s arguments and dismissed the bail request.
He also ordered accelerated trial of the matter.
Kyari was, on March 7, arraigned alongside four accomplices as 1st to 5th defendants in the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/57/2022.
The five police officers were arraigned alongside Umeibe and Ezenwanne on charges bordering on alleged conspiracy, obstruction and dealings in cocaine worth 17.55 kilograms.
The judge adjourned the matter until April 28 for ruling on review of facts in the case of the two defendants who pleaded guilty to the charge
