The former deputy commissioner of Nigeria Police Abba Kyari who was suspended and is now facing an eight-count charge alongside four members of his IRT team, has had his application to dismiss drug trafficking charges against him rejected by the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Kyari’s legal representative, Mr. Nureni Jimoh, SAN, had argued that the charges were legally defective and that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain them.
However, the trial judge Emeka Nwite reminded Kyari that Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution empowered the court to hear drug-related offences brought under the NDLEA Act.
The judge went further to delivered a ruling that stated the court found no grounds to halt proceedings regarding allegations against former Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) leader, Kyari, and four other police officers. The allegations pertain to their alleged interference with cocaine confiscated from convicted drug peddlers.
Kyari maintained that the charge was premature, as the police had already commenced their own investigation into the allegations against him and issued an interim report before the NDLEA brought him to court. He argued that he could only be charged after the police’s internal investigation had been concluded and that the Police Service Commission had similar powers to investigate and discipline erring police officers.
However, the agency argued that Kyari was being brought before the court for violating laws, not for a disciplinary action for infringing the Police Service Rules.
meanwhile the Central District Court of Central District of California is still waiting for Abba Kyari to appear before the court.