Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, has denied ownership of 14 assets, including shopping malls, residential estate, polo playground, lands and farmland in Abuja and Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
WITHIN NIGERIA had reported that 14 assets, including shopping malls, residential estate, polo playground, lands and farmland belonging to Kyari were uncovered by the Federal Government in different locations in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Maiduguri, Borno State.
Kyari, a former Commander, Intelligence Response Team, in a statement by his lawyer, Hamza Tani on Monday, said the reports were orchestrated by the the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, to further tarnish his image.
He alleged that the agency resorted to cheap blackmail because “NDLEA’s case in court against Abba Kyari and four others is not going well for them.”
According to Kyari, he has only N2.8 million in his UBA account, the only account he has been using for the past eight years; 7,000 pounds in GTB kept over eight years ago and N350,000 in GTB kept many years ago.
Others were N200,000 in Sterling Bank and Access Bank account not in use for over eight years.
His lawyer said, “They expected the court case to go smoothly in their favour the way their sponsored media trials went viral between February and April 2022. They failed to understand that unlike media trials, courts need real evidence and facts which NDLEA don’t have in this case.
“By all means, out of desperation, again, NDLEA wanted to spoil Abba Kyari’s name at all cost because they know that all their initial efforts have failed as overwhelming majority of good Nigerians who want peace and security for the nation are still behind Abba Kyari despite the set-up by NDLEA against Abba Kyari in January 2022, which was followed by massive sponsored media trial earlier this year.
“Again, NDLEA is sponsoring fabricated lies, untrue stories, and flimsy allegations, trumped-up and false charges in court without justification against Abba kyari.”
He recalled that on August 29, 2022, Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a suit filed by the Attorney-General of Federation to extradite Abba Kyari to the United States of America.
“On August 30, the NDLEA filed another 24 Count charges against DCP Abba Kyari just to mislead the general public and tarnish his image despite the same matter being before Federal High Court in Maiduguri and without any evidence linking Abba Kyari to any of those properties or any link to any drug money, stealing government money or any proceed of any crime,” Tani said.
The lawyer insisted that all the allegations on monies and properties by NDLEA belonging to Abba Kyari were false, untrue and lies, just to mislead the public into wrongly believing that they belong to Abba Kyari.
The statement read, “The businessmen who own those properties and gave their documents have already filed their cases against NDLEA in Federal High Court Maiduguri. The NDLEA without any evidence went and marked innocent people’s properties in Maiduguri and Abuja in April 2022 and released the news to the media which went viral April 2022.
“These whole properties matter is before Federal High Court in Maiduguri but NDLEA is still desperate by trying to link Abba Kyari without any evidence to financial crimes and properties that do not belong to him, neither is there one kobo of drug money or any crime money that is linked to Abba Kyari in any way.
“We challenge NDLEA to release the evidence to the public immediately if any. The whole thing is only aimed at media trials as they have no evidence to show to the court. If they have the evidence, let them release it to the media. This is how all their cases will crumble in the courts since their aim is only a media trial.”