There is no necessary evil in government. Its evil exists only in its abuses
In the present republic, Nigeria has recorded two notable Abba Kyaris. Each has different whacks. They are not blood-related but are from the same geopolitical zone. The man who first popularised the name was a military governor in the northeast in the Yakubu Gowon era but it became a household name, courtesy of Mallam Abba Kyari, the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mallam Kyari, a wheeler-dealer at the Aso Rock Villa, died last year at the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic. This Kyari was a quintessential power manager, astute intrigue administrator, and indisputably the brain box of the Buhari Presidency. May his soul rest in perfect peace.
The second Abba Kyari, a Policeman, was exceptional at policing and at some point merited the super cop epithet. He was the poster boy of the Police when the force was facing the worst ever image bashing.
During the October 2020 #EndSARS uprising for police corruption and brutality, DCP Kyari was so duteous then that people were wondering whether something good can still come from Nazareth. At a point, the man became so popular that police were recommending him for promotion every year until the Police Service Commission headed by a retired Inspector-General of Police Musiliu Smith had to halt it, warning of the danger to the system.
Awards were coming to him from every corner within and outside the shores of Nigeria. Even an excited House of Representatives, also struggling with image issues over the rubber-stamp role to the executive and budget padding allegations, strived to win the heart of the populace by identifying with whatever was popular and had to give a standing ovation to DCP Kyari.
Kyari once epitomised what an ideal Police should be and it was heartwarming coming out of a visibly dented institution. His presence at any gathering gave credibility to such a function.
When Anambra-born socialite Obi Cubana gave his mother a celebrated burial, a cross-section of the public loathed the extravagance exhibited there, especially the careless use of the national currency. But the presence of the Supercop at the event doused every suspicion of money ritual or laundering or Yahoo boys’ exploits. That feeling has since vanished.
What you can’t take away from the Abba Kyaris is/was diligent performance, whether positive or negative. In politics and power games, the late Kyari was outstanding. In tackling crime and committing it, the DCP Kyari was also exceptional and as we are discovering now was also multi-dimensional.
The DCP who is currently trending for the wrong reason will be the subject of this discourse as we will attempt to look into matters arising from it.
The first issue is the security and government handling of the Abba Kyari case since the FBI linked him to a crime in America and sought to have him extradited.
Except for the suspension that came from the Police Service Commission, nothing concrete has come out of the matter since July 2021 when it blew open. Police have set up two probe panels but none saw the light of the day until the man was implicated in another more grievous crime. DCP Kyari while on suspension for the crime was engaging in a more delicate security duty in a sensitive area like an international airport. Could he have been doing that without the knowledge of the IG and other top shots in the force?
There is a well-known standing order in the police that in carrying out operations in an area outside your jurisdiction you are duty-bound to report to the local command leadership. Was the Enugu State Commissioner of Police or the one in charge of airports alerted of the operations of a suspended officer? If not, why and who authorised the operations?
An officer on suspension, being a huge embarrassment to both the police and the country going for an international operation of such magnitude should be a source of serious concern for an organisation that is already reputation-challenged. Even the police authorities shamelessly bringing up the involvement of narcotics operatives being accomplices without addressing the main issue of a suspended officer leading the operation shows the level we are in covering and manuring crime in this land.
If the federal government was sincere in finding a solution to the recurring police mess, the Kyarigate scandal would have provided a huge opportunity to reform the Nigeria Police Force. They would have stood on the FBI platform to clean up the place. Nay. Instead, the FG is complicit in the cover-up.
The other matter arising that is also fueling the suspicion that something fishy might be happening is the needless drama that accompanied the arrest of Abba Kyari.
With NDLEA, Police and other security agencies operating under one Commander-in-Chief, did NDLEA need a world press conference to get a suspect of any rank arrested, more so a suspended officer? If top personnel of security and government had not soiled their hands in such a dirty deal, was the drama over Abba Kyari necessary?
This is not the first time in the present Buhari regime that the public is made to witness the hollow ritual from operatives over corruption crimes. The drama involving the EFCC and DSS over the arrest and search of the former DSS Director-General, the show of shame involving the EFCC and NIA over a sack of currencies recovered in an apartment in Lagos come readily to my mind. Not to talk of the Ibrahim Magu (former Chairman of EFCC) saga when he had to be blocked by DSS operatives on the road and taken to Aso Rock to appear before a special committee. After the hullabaloo what has become of Magu except that he was removed from office? The whole kit and caboodle were just to remove him and after that, the case closed. All the Justice Salami hearings are now in the trash can of history. All the allegations against Magu and the ones from him against people in government died just like that. Ditto all the ones mentioned above.
But for the media that screamed out recently, Magu was secretly listed for promotion in the police without any word whether he is cleared or not. Which type of country is this? Are all these agencies not under one government?
Now the same drama has trailed Abba Kyari and the narcotics agency and everything has again entered into secrecy. Which offence is Kyari facing first, FBI or NDLEA? Is the public not entitled to another world press conference update or has the powerful interests gone in as usual to suppress matters?
A cross-section of Nigerians believes that the powerful forces behind Kyari will ensure that nothing tangible comes out of his entanglement. The people who provided him with the impetus to operate while on suspension and who cleared and attended social gatherings with him while on suspension over international crime will do everything to protect and damage the Nigerian society.
Given the foregoing, therefore, is this government morally qualified to look anybody in the face including Yahoo boys and corrupt public officers? Certainly not. One of the noticeable epidemics in our time at all levels is the abuse of responsibilities which DCP Kyari not only indulged in but has so glaringly exposed.
TAILPIECE
On a lighter note, let us share these two trending hilarious non-fictional satires. The first one is original to my senior colleague, Kanayo Esinulo titled “Igbos like money.” The second is on Igbophobia.
Read Esinulo the veteran journalist: “Igbos like money… because Honourable Farouk Lawan from Ekwuloba in Anambra State was caught on camera collecting US$500,000 bribe from Femi Otedola for which he is in jail now;
Governor Abdulkarim Ganduje from Nise, also in Anambra State was caught on camera allegedly stuffing US dollars kickback funds into his flowing Isiagu attire, and DCP Abba Kyari from Abagana, also in Anambra, was caught on camera collecting proceeds from drugs.”
A commenter added what Esinulo probably forgot, And St Sani Abacha from Obosi in the same Anambra State, so stole public funds that Nigeria continues to get credit alert from his loots many years after his death.”
Now this: “Afraid of Igbo songs in their churches, afraid of Igbo clothes in their courts, afraid of the Igbo language in their country, afraid of Igbo property in their place, afraid of an Igbo president in their country, and yet will be afraid to let them break away to be on their own. What an irony of life!”
May God bless Nigeria.