Popular human rights lawyer, Femi Falana SAN says conspiracy theories surrounding the extradition of an embattled police officer, DCP Abba Kyari to the United States defy logic.
Recall that Kyari was suspended as the Head of the IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) to pave way for investigations into his alleged involvement with convicted internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, for which the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) requested his extradition.
Before the process could be concluded, he was arrested by police authorities alongside a few others and handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
The anti-drug agency subsequently arraigned the embattled cop and his alleged accomplices over cocaine dealing.
However, many conspiracy theorists described Abba Kyari’s ordeal with NDLEA as a ploy to frustrate his extradition to the US to face justice over the Hushpuppi affair.
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But speaking at the 26th Anti-Corruption Situation Room (ACSR) organised by the HEDA Resource Centre, Falana said that the theories were illogical as the drug charges in Nigeria were more grievous than that of abetting internet fraud which Abba Kyari could face if extradited to the US.
He said he felt pity for Abba Kyari, blaming his ordeal on an attitude of “impunity”.
“While the request of the United States government was yet to be filed in court, the gentleman (Kyari) who operates in an atmosphere of impunity got himself enmeshed in drug trafficking enterprise. No country or government would want to frustrate the extradition of a criminal suspect by asking him to get engaged in drug trafficking and embarrass the country, no!
“We must not buy conspiracy theories that are not logical. The government did not ask him to get involved in drug trafficking. Arrest has been made, the materials have been recovered.
“It was at the stage of taking the suspect and the materials to the NDLEA that the members of the IRT involved in the operation contacted him and said, hey, this is business, that’s all.
“It has nothing to do with either the Police or the government this is just a question of somebody who believes that he is above the law and nothing will happen to him.
“It is an attitude of impunity that has happened in this case. And I must confess that I have nothing but pity for him, for allowing himself to be messed up by the Nigerian system.
“All allegations including extrajudicial killings were brushed aside by Police authorities before now. He has never been queried. He was made to believe that nothing will happen to him that was what led him to get himself involved in drug trafficking,” Sunday Vanguard quoted Falana to have said.