Abba Kyari, who is a former head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, is facing prosecution by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
On Wednesday, the Federal High Court in Abuja denied a motion to drop charges against Abba Kyari, the suspended deputy commissioner of police.
According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, the court of law has the sole authority and right to hear drug-related cases, hence Justice Emeka Nwite dismissed the motion.
‘Unwarranted Allegations’
According to Justice Nwite, the court has the authority to hear the charge and make a decision under Section 251 of the constitution.
Kyari had argued before the court that the allegations against him were unwarranted.
Also, he insisted that the NDLEA should have given the police time to use all of its internal resources before taking any further action.
According to him, the Police had already started looking into the charges made against him and had produced an interim report.
Kyari insisted that he could only be charged once the police had finished their internal investigation.
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He stated that, similar to how the National Judicial Council (NJC) sanctions judicial officers, the PSC has the authority to look into and punish incompetent police employees in accordance with the Police Act and Regulations.
But the judge said that the Federal High Court’s authority does not override that of the Police Service Commission.
Kyari, the former head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force with four members of the IRT appear before a Federal High Court in Abuja with conspiracy to deal in 17.55kg of cocaine.
The other members of the IRT are: ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu.
