Embattled police chief DCP Abba Kyari is being defended by an unlikely voice.
Human rights lawyer and vocal government critic Festus Ogun has urged the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to release the suspended deputy commissioner of police (DCP).
The NDLEA arrested Kayri over his alleged links to an international drug cartel. The celebrity cop, however, claims innocence arguing that the allegations against him are false. Abba Kyari’s lawyers also failed to have a court grant the suspended officer bail on medical ground — they claimed he has diabetes and ‘hypertension’.
Kyari had also been linked to internet fraudster, Hushpuppi.
Ogun, who usually criticises the government and security agencies for violating the rights of Nigerians, believes that Kyari should be granted bail.
“In fairness to Abba Kyari, his continuous detention at NDLEA custody is a violation of human rights,” the convener of Civil Coalition for Constitutional Governance wrote in a social media post on Monday.
“Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution makes it abundantly clear that no suspect shall be kept in custody beyond 24 or 48 hours except where justified by a valid court order.
“That said, is it not ironic that the same Kyari with a dirty record of human rights violations is today crying profusely for help upon ‘slight’ encroachment of his right? Well, this would send a strong message to security agencies that have nurtured the culture of impunity.
“Our leadership must begin to pick strong lessons from Kyari’s almost futile efforts to save himself from clutches of ‘unlawful detention’. The same system he helped nurtured is today torturing him.
“May the shovel we called spoon never be used to dig our graves.”
