By Ben Okolor Oreva
The Police Service Commission (PSC) has rejected the report of the panel that investigated the connection between DCP Abba Kyari and Instagram celebrity, Hushpuppi.
The PSC reportedly turned down the report for lacking depth.
The PSC’s Standing Committee on Police Discipline and Appeals, however, directed the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to set up a fresh committee to carry out a more thorough investigation.
According to PDC, the new committee is expected to submit its report within two weeks.
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) was also in agreement with the PSC, asking that a thorough job should be done.
The Trumpet recalls that on July 2021, Judge Otis Wright of the United States District Court for the Central District of California ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down Kyari and produce him in the United States.
It was over his role in a fraud involving Hushpuppi, whose real name is Ramon Abbas Olorunwa.
In June 2020, Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai by UAE police, working in conjunction with FBI.
He was first repatriated to Chicago and then California, where he faced trial and is due to be sentenced on 14 February.
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In one of the scams in which a Qatari businessman was swindled of $1.1 million, Abba Kyari featured most embarrassingly in the indictment unsealed in court.
American prosecutors first sought a court warrant to arrest Kyari on February 12, 2021, according to court documents.
Another warrant was requested on April 29, 2021. Judge Wright’s permission for the FBI to arrest Mr Kyari and hold him in U.S. custody was unsealed on July 26. 2021.
Hushpuppi narrated how he bribed Kyari to have one of his rivals, Kelly Chibuzor arrested and jailed in Nigeria following a dispute over how to share the proceeds of the scam.
Telephone conversations and text messages between Hushpuppi and Kyari showed that Kyari carried out Hushpuppi’s instruction, for which he was paid $20,600 on January 20, 2020.
The FBI in a letter to the Inspector General of Police requested the extradition of Abba Kyari to face trial in the U.S.
However, the Nigerian Police appear not ready to surrender their super cop, who was the head of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the police.
The Inspector General of Police set up a four-man Special Investigation Panel headed by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police to probe the allegations against Kyari.
The panel headed by DIG Joseph Egbunike submitted a report to the IGP in December 2021, which the PSC has rejected.
