The Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) has faulted a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abba Kyari, for facilitating the purchase of clothes and caps by Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi, who is being tried in the United States for alleged fraud.
While denying collecting bribes from Hushpuppi to arrest and jail an estranged ‘co-conspirator,’ Chibuzo Vincent, Kyari had said the suspected fraudster sent N300, 000 to a cloth seller he linked him with.
He explained that Hushpuppi once saw some of his (Kyari’s) native clothes and caps on his (Kyari’s) social media page, he expressed liking for them, and was connected to the person selling the clothes.
“Later, he saw some of my native clothes and caps on my social media page and he said he likes them and he was connected to the person selling the clothes and he sent about N300,000 directly to the person’s account. The native clothes and caps (five sets) were brought to our office and he sent somebody to collect them in our office,” the police officer said.
Reacting, HURIWA said, “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 “.
“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 having 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 exist 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?”