Abba Kyari: Once Again Embattled DCP, One Other Pray Court For Bail

Suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari and his co-defendant, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sunday Ubia, on Monday, asked a Federal High Court, Abuja, to admit them to bail.
 
Kyari and Ubia, through their lawyer, Mahmud Magaji, told Justice Emeka Nwite while arguing the bail application. 
 
Magaji, who said the offenses with which Kyari and Ubia are being charged are bailable ones, also said that the constitution gave the court the discretionary power to do so.
 
However, counsel to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Joseph Sunday, a director of Prosecution and Legal Services, opposed the bail application.
 
Also, counsel to other police officers in the matter also urged the court to grant their clients bail. The matter is still ongoing as of the time of filing the report.

On March 1, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Abuja Federal High Court, refused to grant the bail application of Kyari. 
Justice Ekwo ruled that the application had been overtaken by events following an order of a sister court, granting the NDLEA’s prayers to detain Kyari for another 14 days to enable it conclude its investigation.

The judge in that ruling held that the court, which gave the order in favor of NDLEA on February 22, was a court of coordinate jurisdiction.

He, however, said he was inclined to hear Kyari’s fundamental rights enforcement suit with the urgency it deserves after the expiration of the 14-day court order and adjourned until March 15.

Justice Zainab Abubakar of the FHC sitting in Abuja had granted the agency’s application to have Kyari and other suspects linked to the alleged drug trafficking detained for 14 more days to complete its investigation.

Kyari, through his lawyer, had, on February 21, approached the court with an ex parte motion and originating summons seeking bail and asking the court to enforce his fundamental human rights, which he alleged had been breached by unlawful arrest and detention.