Respite may have come for suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, as 31 lawyers drawn from the 19 Northern states have volunteered to offer free legal services for him in the United States.
Recall that a District Court in the United States had ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to arrest Kyari for allegedly arresting and torturing one Vincent Chibuzor, on the behest of Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi, after the latter threatened to expose a $1 million fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.
Hushpuppi is standing trial for money laundering and internet fraud which he has pleaded guilty to.
Speaking on behalf of the lawyers, Barr Sunusi Bappah Salisu, Wednesday, in Abuja, noted that they took up the task for “the preservation of Mr. Kyari’s fundamental rights that may be potentially jeopardised by his alleged indictment by a court in the United States of America.”
He said they would critically review the procedures adopted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to get the US Court to indict Kyari on allegations of involvement in charges filed against a suspected fraudster, Hushpuppi.
Salisu said: “In apparent response to recent calls for support for Abba Kyari by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), a group of about 31 young northern Nigerian lawyers has volunteered to render legal services to the embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police.
“We would raise questions involving the possibility of the occasioning of breaches to Kyari’s fundamental rights entrenched in Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, which essentially state that every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person and every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard.
“This comprises: ‘The right to an appeal to competent national organs against acts of violating his fundamental rights as recognised and guaranteed by conventions, laws, regulations, and customs in force;
“The right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent court or tribunal; the right to defence, including the right to be defended by counsel of his choice;
“The right to be tried within a reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal.”
He said they would weigh the procedures against the intendment of Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which specifically stated that, in the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by, or against any government, or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court, or another tribunal.
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) had, in Kaduna, pointed out several procedural lapses bordering on breaches of international protocol in the supposed FBI attempt to wrap Kyari in the Hushpuppi’s affair as well as the obvious haste by the Nigeria Police authorities to strip him of his position with an immediate substantive replacement.
CNG specifically pointed out that when Ibrahim Magu of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) came under probe, he was asked to step aside for the most senior official in the Commission to act, pending the outcome of the probe.
He further called on lawyers from
“northern Nigeria to mobilise and deploy legal resources in ensuring that Mr. Kyari’s rights are not violated by a foreign power or abuse of local administrative processes.”
