Abba Kyari, a suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, was released from Kuje Prison in Abuja after being held there for 27 months.
After being taken into custody by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency on February 14, 2022, Kyari was suspected of having ties to a global drug cartel. On March 7, 2022, Kyari was arraigned alongside Sunday Ubia, Bawa James, Simon Agirigba, and John Nuhu, the other four who are members of the Police Intelligence Response Team.
Charges were also brought against Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, two suspected drug traffickers who were apprehended at Enugu’s Akanu Ibiam International Airport.
Umeibe and Ezenwanne pleaded guilty and were found guilty, although Kyari and the members of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) pleaded not guilty.
Kyari requested bail on several occasions, but his motions were consistently turned down until a Federal High Court in Abuja made a recent ruling. Judge Emeka Nwite granted Kyari bail on May 22, 2024, so he could finish the funeral preparations for his mother Yachilla Kyari, who passed away on May 5. Kyari’s bail included requirements that he turn in his passport to the court and visit the closest NDLEA office while out on bail.
The court set May 31, 2024, as the date for the hearing on Kyari’s primary bail request regarding the drug trafficking accusations.
According to Adamu Duza, the spokesman for the Nigerian Correctional Service’s Federal Capital Territory Command, Kyari was released upon fulfilling the bail requirements.
