The embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Alhaji Kyari, has blamed the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN) for his ordeals, saying they are out to destroy him for his dare-devil operations against them as leader of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
Kyari laid the claim in order to whip up sentiments against a perceived enemy of the federal government of Nigeria when he appeared before a probe panel led by Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Joseph Egbunike, at Force Headquarters, Abuja, in an attempt to exonerate himself from the accusations against him by the United States District Attorney’s office over his relationship with global fraudster, Hushpuppi.
According to the report submitted by the panel to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, which was in turn forwarded to the Police Service Commission (PSC), Kyari said the outlawed IPOB and its armed wing were after him due to the onslaught launched against them in the South East.
Kyari, who did not deny violating social media rules of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), was berated by the panel for the fact that the officer had been warned against the same practice previously.
“It is a campaign to smear his reputation by members of IPOB/ESN who vowed to destroy him, due to his onslaught against them in the South East,” the embattled ‘super cop’ was quoted to have said in the report.
But the panel, which faulted his claim, saying it is watery, ordered his demotion from the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police to Assistant Commissioner of Police.
Efforts to reach the Police Service Commission to find out whether it jettisoned the report on Kyari proved abortive.
Several calls made across to the mobile phone of the commission’s spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, were unanswered. He also did he respond to a text message sent to him.
Similarly, the acting spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force, Muyiwa Adejobi, did not answer calls nor responded to text messages when Daily Trust sought clarifications on the allegations that the force wants to protect Kyari.
First published in Daily Trust