Abba Kyari prays court for bail over alleged threat to life in Kuje prison

THE immediate past commander of the Inspector-General of Police-Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT), DCP Abba Kyari, on Thursday approached a Federal High Court for another bail plea. 

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Kyari and three of his co-defendants, through their counsel, urged Justice Emeka Nwite to admit them to a bail because their lives in the Kuje Correctional Centre, where there are being remanded, are unsafe. 

At a resumed hearing, Onyechi Ikpeazu, counsel for Kyari and suspended ACP Sunday Ubia, disclosed that an application seeking bail for the first, second, fourth and fifth defendants had been filed and served on the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). 

He said the application became necessary due to the nature of the work the defendants had done in the course of policing the country. 

Ikpeazu said the defendants are being remanded with criminals in the correctional centre, who through them, their arrests were made possible. 

The senior lawyer said their lives are at risk, hence, the need for their bail. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has said that Abba Kyari is safe in its custody, as there is no threat to his life. 

The Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO), Mr Francis Enobore, stated this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. 

Enobore said that it was necessary to address the issue following a publication by an online media organisation alleging that Kyari was attacked by his fellow inmates. According to him, the news further stated that the authorities of the service were considering transferring Kyari to DSS custody.

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He said: “The story is false, reckless and mischievous. 

“It is the handiwork of some jobless, cheap, recognition-seeking charlatans masquerading as newsmen, lacking in intellectual capacity to interrogate what they conjure or hear before feeding the public. 

“That the author is completely oblivious of where and how detention of a suspect originates speaks volume of his ineptitude and the much his story can be relied upon. 

“For the record, Abba Kyari is one of the over 800 inmates in the location where he is being kept. 

“However, notable individuals, including ex-governors, ministers, senators and other celebrities of higher social status have passed through the same facility without any threat to their lives,” he said. 

Enobore said the authorities of the NCoS did not and had no cause to request for the transfer of Abba Kyari or, indeed, any inmate to any other detention centre outside its jurisdiction. 

He emphasised that Kyari is safe and sound and goes about his daily routine like any other inmate unharmed. 

“Those playing pranks with his detention are warned to desist from such unpatriotic acts as they may be asked, through formal litigation, to justify their statement.”