From Okwe Obi, Abuja

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) has advised the Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, to file and defend a counter affidavit of accusation of bribery made against him by a fraud suspect Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi in the United States.

A US court had said that Hushpuppi allegedly used Kyari to arrest and jail a co-conspirator, Chibuzo Vincent, after the latter threatened to expose a $1m fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.

Although, Kyari had, in a statement, denied allegations of conspiracy with Hushpuppi, saying he only met him two years ago and did not benefit financially from him.

But, HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement yesterday, said Kyari should not be scared of injustice because of the transparent nature of the judicial system in the United States.

“The United States of America is an organised Constitutional democracy where the Rule of Law is supreme. So if a crime suspect makes an affidavit accusation under Oath against you, it doesn’t need to be disclaimed in the local media here.

“What is the best thing to do even before the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses the services of the INTERPOL to hunt you down, as someone who is sure that his conscience is clear, is to take the next available flight to Washington DC or New York to connect to the Court room then use a legal representation to file and defend yourself through an affidavit evidence to counter what you think is a tissue of falsehood.

“Telling us this cock-and- bull story of how you a very senior police officer acted as the agent of a local tailor is irrelevant and of no moment ,” he said.

“The corporate image of Nigerian Police Force and the nation State would be irreparably damaged should the Inspector General of Police not facilitate immediate travel to the United States of America by his trusted top cop Abba Kyari to clear his name of the allegations instead of just letting him employ the pages of news media to try to exculpate or exonerate himself from an allegation that is lawfully filed before a United States Court.

“This allegation is heavy and it has been filed in the Court of law and not in the court of public opinion.

“We in the organized Civil Rights body think that as someone who has claimed to have a good conscience that the best way forward is to immediately and voluntarily to travel to the American Court to prove the allegation wrong.

“Also, we think it is disgraceful that a serving commissioner of Police publicly admitted to have acted as a go between a local tailor and the then Dubai based fraud kingpin.

“Is there no longer a code of conduct between the police and members of the public especially with regards to the kind of relationship that should exists between such a top officer with someone that even before he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of investigation was already a person of interest because clearly he had no credible means of such flamboyant lifestyle that became of global notoriety?”