The Federal Government should stop prosecuting suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari, according to the Movement for the Emancipation of Nigeria (MEN), which has demanded his immediate release.
In view of the recent flood of presidential pardons given to convicted criminals, MEN called Kyari’s continuing arrest “a grave injustice” in a statement released on Tuesday by its Comrade General, former Sports Minister Solomon Dalung.
The Movement for the Emancipation of Nigeria (MEN), according to the statement, “observes with deep concern the continued detention and prosecution of DCP Abba Kyari despite recent presidential pardons extended to convicted drug traffickers, fraudsters, kidnappers, and bandits, many of whom were arrested by his team in the line of duty.”
According to reports, President Bola Tinubu pardoned 175 people last Thursday, including Maryam Sanda, who was given a death sentence for the murder of her husband, the late Major General Mamman Vatsa, and the late nationalist Herbert Macaulay.
Convicts incarcerated for fraud, illicit mining, and manslaughter were also among the recipients.
The selective use of clemency, according to MEN, “ridicules the principle of fairness” and thus renders the legal and moral justifications for Kyari’s conviction moot.
The group cautioned that if Kyari’s trial is carried out, it may deter law enforcement personnel from putting their lives in danger to combat crime.
“The moral and legal justification for Kyari’s ongoing arrest has essentially been eliminated by the recent wave of presidential amnesties and pardons. The group claimed that his indictment under such circumstances is an example of a double standard that compromises the integrity of Nigeria’s legal system.
“Institutional betrayal against a man who once risked his life in the service of national security and public order” is another way that MEN characterized the trial.
The group made a direct plea to Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation, and President Tinubu to put a stop to Kyari’s suffering.
Therefore, we implore the President and the Attorney General of the Federation to obtain DCP Abba Kyari’s immediate release and drop all allegations against him. “Anything less will be a dangerous precedent and a travesty of justice,” MEN said.
Due to his track record of high-profile arrests, Kyari, the former chief of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), was hailed as Nigeria’s “super cop.”
After being listed as wanted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for allegedly plotting to tamper with and traffic 21.35 kilograms of cocaine that had been confiscated from suspected traffickers, he was taken into custody on February 14, 2022.
Since then, he has entered a not guilty plea to the accusations.
