The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, didn’t shut
down satellite units of the Intelligence Response Team and Special Tactical
Squads in the country, acting Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi,
has said.
Adejobi made this clarification on Tuesday while reacting to
reports that the police boss ordered the closure of IRT formations nationwide
following the indictment of suspended Head of the IRT, DCP Abba Kyari, in a
narcotics deal.
“The report is untrue, the IGP didn’t shut IRT and tactical
squads in the country,” Adejobi said.
Recall that the IGP on Monday handed over Kyari to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for prosecution for alleged link in drug trafficking after the anti-narcotics agency released damning photos and evidence to nail Kyari.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, at a press briefing in
Abuja on Monday, had chronicled how Kyari belonged to a drug cartel that
operates the Brazil-Ethiopia-Nigeria illicit drug pipeline.
The anti-narcotics agency said Kyari contacted one of its
officers in Abuja and struck a deal to secure the release of a total of 25kg
seized cocaine and offered $61,400 to NDLEA officers who played along until his
arrest.
The NDLEA also said it had photo and video evidence against
Kyari.
The IGP in a statement through the FPRO had corroborated the
NDLEA’s findings, saying incontrovertible evidence indicted Kyari in the drug
crimes.
He said the affected police officers have been transferred
to the NDLEA for prosecution. “The concerned officers include DCP Abba Kyari,
ACP Sunday Ubuah, ASP Bawa James, ASP John Umoru (at large), Inspr. Simon
Agrigba and John Nuhu. They have all been, accordingly, handed over today 14th
February 2022 to the NDLEA authorities,” he said.
The IGP also urged the anti-narcotics agency to arrest
NDLEA’s officials who colluded with Kyari’s accomplices, especially at the
Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
Kyari was earlier indicted in 2021 by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in the United States for his alleged role in a $1m scam allegedly
perpetrated by alleged international Internet fraudster Ramon Abbas, aka,
Hushpuppi and five others.
FBI Special Agent, Andrew Innocenti, had said he obtained
voice calls and WhatsApp conversations between Kyari and Hushpuppi, adding that
Hushpuppi also paid the police officer N8m or $20,600 for the arrest and
detention of a “co-conspirator,” Chibuzo Vincent.
The United States Attorney’s Office at the Central District
of California had ordered the FBI to arrest Kyari but the IGP and the Minister
of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) evasively continued to shield Kyari till this
moment.
Many Nigerians have since called for the sacking of the
suspended erstwhile IRT boss while they also urged the Federal Government not
to allow the NDLEA case affect the extradition of Kyari to the United States
and his prosecution in the Hushpuppi saga.
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