Hushpuppi: Court Adjourns Hearing On Abba Kyari’s Extradition To US Till Next Month

A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned hearing in the extradition case of the suspended commander of the Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari.

KanyiDaily recalls that in July 2019, a US court had ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to arrest Abba Kyari for his alleged role in a $1.1millon scam allegedly perpetrated by suspected fraudster, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi.

The FBI Special Agent, Andrew Innocenti, had alleged that Hushpuppi contracted the services of Kyari after a “co-conspirator,” Chibuzo Vincent, allegedly threatened to expose the alleged $1.1m fraud committed against a Qatari businessman.

Innocenti, who said he obtained voice calls and WhatsApp conversations between Kyari and Hushpuppi, had also alleged that the latter paid the police officer N8m or $20,600 for the arrest and detention of Vincent.

However, Abba Kyari had denied the allegations in a post shared on his Facebook page on July 29, 2021, but he was later suspended by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, who also constituted a panel to probe the allegations.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2022, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malam filed an application before the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja for Kyari’s extradition.

The AGF said the application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022 was filed under the Extradition Act following a request by the Diplomatic Representative of the U.S. Embassy in Abuja.

Abba Kyari’s Proceedings Adjourned Till April 27

However, when the matter was called up on Wednesday, Kyari’s lawyer, Mr. Nureni Jimoh, SAN, told the court that his client was yet to be served with any of the processes the AGF filed against him.

Nureni said there was no way his client would have been able to respond to the extradition request, since he was not served.

Responding, counsel to the AGF, Mr. Pius Akutah, admitted that the Respondent was yet to be served with processes in the application marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/249/2022.

He said the inability of the office of the AGF to serve the Respondent was due to the drug trafficking charge the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, also entered against Kyari, before the court.

Akutah, argued that he has 14 days within which he could still effect the service in accordance with the law.

The judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned the case till April 27 for further hearing, and ordered the Applicant (AGF) to ensure that DCP Kyari was served before the next date.

The court held that upon service of the processes, Kyari, would be at liberty to file his response within 14 days. It further gave an extra seven days for the parties to perfect the filing processes.

Meanwhile, DCP Abba Kyari is currently detained in the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over his alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.