Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, has been released after spending 27 months in detention at the Kuje Custodial Centre in the Federal Capital Territory .
Kyari was detained after he was arrested on February 14, 2022, by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for alleged involvement with an international drug cartel.
Kyari was arraigned on March 7, 2022 alongside four members of the Police Intelligence Response Team—Sunday Ubia, Bawa James, Simon Agirigba, and John Nuhu
Two suspected drug traffickers, Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, who were arrested at Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu, were also charged.
Kyari and the IRT members pleaded not guilty, but Umeibe and Ezenwanne pleaded guilty and were convicted.
Despite multiple applications, Kyari’s requests for bail were repeatedly denied until a recent decision by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
On May 22, 2024, Judge Emeka Nwite, granted Kyari bail to allow him to conclude the burial rites of his mother, Yachilla Kyari, who died on May 5.
One of the bail conditions required Kyari required to deposit his passport with the court and report to the nearest NDLEA office during the bail period.
The court scheduled May 31, 2024, for the hearing on Kyari’s main application for bail about the drug trafficking charges.
Spokesperson of the Nigerian Correctional Service of the Federal Capital Territory Command, Adamu Duza, who confirmed Kyari’s release to Punch correspondent on Friday night, said Kyari met his bail conditions and was released on Friday.
“DCP Kyari has perfected his bail conditions, and has since been released today,” Duza told Punch correspondent.
