By Romanus Okoye
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Mike Ozekhome has advised that the Head, Nigerian Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT) and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Abba Kyari, should be allowed to have his day in court and not be tried on the pages of newspapers over his alleged role in a multi-million dollar fraud perpetrated by Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi and his co-conspirators.
Ozekhome said that his worry was simply that if these allegations eventually become true, it simply means that hope is possibly not in sight for Nigeria.
He said: “The question is if gold rusts, what will iron do? As I have always maintained for others in his shoes, I would not want Kyari to be judged and convicted on the pages of newspapers and the social media. He should be allowed to have his day in court. The proper route of extradition should be followed meticulously and legally. There must be no mob-lynch action against Kyari.
“I have never supported such actions whether for Magu, Maina, the politically exposed persons, or for any other homo sapien. Even God gave Adam and Eve fair hearing in the Garden of Eden.
“I am greatly surprised and disturbed to hear about this Abba Kyari saga. He was one young officer I respected greatly as a crime-fighter, astute investigator and cerebral cop. This US court indictment with the additional information that he is building a mansion in Borno, a mansion so gigantic that he had to allegedly pay off a person whose structure blocks his direct access to the main road with N70 million is heart-rending.”