Alleged drug deal: Abba Kyari, others know fate March 22

• Published date: 18 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

An application filed by the DCP Abba Kyari and three other suspended police officers seeking to quash the criminal charges against them has been adjourned until March 22 for ruling.

Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court, Abuja fixed the date after counsel for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Joseph Sunday, and the defence lawyers, presented their arguments for and against the motion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NDLEA had filed criminal charges against Kyari (1st defendant) and four of his colleagues who were members of Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

They include ACP Sunday Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu who are 2nd to 5th defendants respectively.

The police officers were charged alongside Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne and Chibunna Patrick Umeibe who were arrested by the IRT officers for smuggling cocaine into the country from Ethiopia through Akanu Ibian International Airport, Enugu.

Although Ezenwanne and Umeibe were convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to the three counts preferred against them by the NDLEA, the five officers pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against them.

Abba Kyari: Witness indicts NDLEA operatives at Enugu International Airport

Kyari, Ubia, Agirigba and Nuhu, in fresh motions on notice filed by their lawyers, prayed the court to strike out the suit against them for being incompetent.

The applicants, through their team of lawyers, which include Hamza N'Dantani and led by Nureni Jimoh, SAN, urged the court to stop their trial because they had not been subjected to the internal disciplinary action of the Nigeria Police Council (NPC) and the Police Service Commission (PSC), as provided by the constitution.

Jimoh argued that the failure of the complainant (NDLEA) to await the disciplinary action against them rendered the charge incompetent and deprived the court of jurisdiction to entertain the charge.

He argued that since the applicants were serving police officers in the employment of Nigeria Police Force, they should be subjected to disciplinary measures by the NPC and PSC with the powers to investigate these offences allegedly committed in the course of the applicants' duties.

According to the senior lawyer, internal...