Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has advised the Special Investigation Panel headed by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Joseph Egbunike, on how to thoroughly scrutinise embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari following his alleged involvement in the Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, commonly known as Hushpuppi fraud case.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, urged the police panel probing Kyari to seize Kyari’s phones and thoroughly analyse his oral and written communications on WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, amongst others.
The civil rights advocacy group stated this during an interview with PUNCH.
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.
In 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.
HURIWA noted that the panel should have started frisking the phones of Kyari for a thorough investigation since it was constituted last week.
“We in Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria will be shocked to find out that the telecommunications companies aren’t summoned by the IGP investigative panel to unravel the discussions held between the embattled DCP and Hushpuppi.
“Most likely, the police authority has had unlimited access to those facts which was the necessitating factor for the very prompt action by the IGP to replace him. Moreover, the FBI has possession of the transcripts of those transactions.
“But to be on the safe side, all those phones should have been seized since by the police unless they intend to undermine the transparency of the probe.”