By Yusuf Olawale
The recent atmosphere has been mixed with twists and turns for the Nigerian most decorated supercop, Abba Kyari, following an indictment order issued by the U.S Central District Court of California, on the 26th of July, 2021.
The Indictement order was said to have followed a series of investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to unravel the mystery behind the $1.1 million transnational cyber-fraud perpetrated by Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi and three others.
According to a confirmed source following the events, two of the three co-defendants, Yusuf Adeyinka Anifiwose, and Rukayat Fashola have been arrested in their separate homes in New York on the 22nd of July, 2021.
Another set of documents undercovered from the events showed that the third defendant, Bolatito Agbabiaka, was arrested in New Jersey, and subsequently granted bail for $150,000.
The three are part of the six persons, including Nigeria’s Supercop, Abba Kyari, who will be facing three count charges of conspiracy of wire fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft, at at the Central District Court of California.
Who is Abba Kyari?
Before now, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari was the show of the crime-fighting event. His track record of success has earned him the name “Supercop”.
His prowess and techniques of fighting crime are unrivaled in recent times. No doubt, he is arguably the nation’s pride of what a cop should look like. When the speed of limelight was at the highest, Mr. Kyari seems to have been shot down to crawl in the mud.
However, the successes recorded by Kyari in the crime-fighting scene cannot be overemphasized. Kyari was shot to the limelight in 2019 when he and his team intercepted the most wanted Taraba kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Wadume.
Also to his track record was the arrest of the notorious billionaire kidnapper Evans. On Tuesday 2 July 2019 precisely, Abba Kyari’s team successfully rescued the District Head of Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar-Uba who was abducted on 1 May in his hometown Daura, Katsina State by some unknown gunmen.
He was also reported to have led a team that arrested the killers of former Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) Air Marshal Alex Badeh ‘rtd’ along Keffi-Gitata Kaduna Road, as well as the arrest of the most wanted Boko-Haram Commander, Umar Abdulmalik, and eight of his terrorist gang members.
Kyaris’s prowess never failed him in the height of events, as he led a team that arrested 22 Boko Haram terrorists responsible for the Chibok girls’ kidnap, suicide bombings, attacks on innocent communities in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, amongst others.
Allegations against Kyari, others.
With all these inviting records of success, the recent claims by Hushpuppi have brought stains to Kyari’s white garment. Hushpuppi is at risk of attracting himself up to 20 years jail term after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Two Nigerian-based fraudsters Innocent and Chibuzo Vincent who have been arrested alongside Hushpuppi since July 2020, recounted how Mr. Kyari was connected to the high profile internet fraud. Mr. Innocenti confessed how a Qatari businessperson was swindled at $1.1 million in a court document.
He said Hushpuppi, known for displaying his lavish lifestyle on Instagram, brought Mr. Kyari into the scheme to arrange the arrest of a rival ringleader, Chibuzo.
However, an undercover report from Premium Times showed how Hushpuppi and Mr. Kyari met in Dubai in September 2019.
Mr. Innocenti affirmed that Mr. Chibuzo, displeased with his share of the proceeds, discouraged the victim businessperson from further making payments to other ringleaders, in his bid to hijack the scheme.
A top source from the FBI disclosed that in line with Hushpuppi’s instruction, Mr. Kyari, arrested and jailed Mr. Chibuzo for about a month.
The undercover report from Premium Times indicated that Mr. Kyari sent Mr. Chibuzo’s photograph in custody to Hushpuppi, adding that he “also facilitated payments from ABBAS to the Nigeria Police Force personnel, who arrested CHIBUZO.”
This confession according to Innocenti was to prevent Chibuzo from further hijacking the scheme for his good.
The report from the FBI also revealed that Mr. Kyari assured ABBAS that he would not allow Mr. Chibuzo’s girlfriend to pay money to get Mr. Chibuzo out of custody as he would have done for a “normal arrest”.
This followed a presentation of a Zenith Bank account into which Hushpuppi paid some money for effecting Mr. Chibuzo’s arrest. After Mr. Chibuzo’s arrest, the special agent said, “Hushpuppi convinced the Victim Businessperson to make the payments of $299,983.58.”
“KYARI’s knowing his involvement in the scheme allowed ABBAS and JUMA (the second-in-command to Hushpuppi) to continue defrauding the victim Businessperson undetected and receive money obtained from the Victim Businessperson after it was laundered,” the uncovered document added.
Mr. Kyari in the swift response posted on his Facebook page, cleared himself of the allegations stated with the claim that he had only responded to a ‘distress’ call from Hushpuppi, who claimed Mr. Chibuzo wanted to kill his family members.
He asserted that Mr. Chibuzo was arrested by his team and later released on bail after it became clear to him that nothing of allegations peddled against him by Hushpuppi was true.
According to him, it was found out that the duo only disagreed about money. He also noted that no one demanded money from Hushpuppi in handling the case, that the only money transaction between them was the sum of #300,000 of which was transferred directly to the fashion designer whom he connected with Hushpuppi.
The Nigeria Police Force has however stated that the case would be revealed with celerity to bring out the hidden facts of the supercop’s indictment.