The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, has issued a warning to United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation that nothing must happen to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari.
AYCF National President, Yerima Shettima criticised the US court that ordered the arrest of Kyari following his alleged involvement in Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi fraud case.
Shettima described the US court order for DCP Kyari’s arrest and extradition as “the attempted intimidation of a police officer right inside his independent fatherland”.
The group stated this in a statement, adding that the move by FBI is “totally unacceptable, a slap on the sensibility of our compatriots and a ridicule on one of our finest crack detectives.”
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that the United States Department of Justice had said ongoing investigations showed that Hushpuppi allegedly bribed Kyari to arrest one Kelly Chibuzo Vincent, one of his accomplices in Nigeria.
According to a court document released by the United States Department of Justice on Wednesday, titled: ‘Six Indicted in International Scheme to Defraud Qatari School Founder and then Launder over $1 Million in Illicit Proceeds’, Kyari was said to have been bribed to arrest one Kelly Chibuzor Vincent, 40, in Nigeria, who created bogus documents and arranged for the creation of a fake bank website and phone banking line to support the defrauding of a business person trying to provide $1.1m for the funding of a school in Qatar.
Allegation which Kyari has denied, stating that he did not demand any money from Hushpuppi, only introduced the accused to a cloth seller whom Hushpuppi paid about N300,000.
The ‘super cop’ said he never demanded for a dime from Hushpuppi, admitting his focus was to save people’s lives that were purported to have been threatened.
AYCF stressed that there was no justification for “singling out one of Nigeria’s most effective and efficient police officers for castigation”, while urging “all Nigerians who are truly patriotic to stand behind a man who has made an unrivalled mark on the sands of time by diligently serving his fatherland.”
Shettima called on relevant stakeholders in the country, especially civil society organizations to “rally round this officer who risked his life in multiple operations across Nigeria, a fact proved many times through BBC news coverage of such operations.
“While we are conscious of our sovereignty as a nation, we demand justice for a man with unrivalled records of detective capabilities in the recent history of Nigeria.”