Sunday, October 18, 2026

Abba Kyari should travel to U.S. if he’s sure of his tailor defence: Falana

Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has challenged Nigeria’s deputy police commissioner Abba Kyari to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the District Court in the United States if he is not guilty

• July 30, 2021
Ramon 'Hushpuppi' Abbas and Abba Kyari
Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas and Abba Kyari

Human rights lawyer Femi Falana has challenged Nigeria’s deputy police commissioner Abba Kyari to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the District Court in the United States if he is not guilty of allegations against him.

Mr Kyari had denied any wrongdoing after Peoples Gazette on Thursday broke the news of his embroiling with Nigerian Internet fraudster Ramon Abass known as Hushpuppi, in a multimillion-dollar fraud.

Court documents revealed an order to arrest and detain Mr Kyari after Mr Abbas pleaded guilty to large-scale cyber fraud in the U.S. recently. The documents also exposed how Mr Abbas bribed Mr Kyari to arrest one of his gang members following a dispute presumably over the proceeds of crime. The police officer arrested and detained the gang member.

Claiming no wrongdoing, Mr Kyari, in a statement on Facebook, narrated how Mr Abbas called him two years ago to complain about a person threatening to kill his family.

He said the suspect was released after discovering there was no threat to anyone’s life, “and they are longtime friends who have money issues between them.

“Nobody demanded a kobo from Abbas Hushpuppi,” claiming that he only introduced Mr Abbas, who paid N300,000 to his cloth vendor.

“Later, he saw some of my native clothes and caps on my social media page, and he said he likes them, and he was connected to the person selling the clothes, and he sent about N300k directly to the person’s account,” added Mr Kyari. “The native clothes and caps (five sets) were brought to our office, and He sent somebody to collect them in our office.”

Reacting to Mr Kyari’s claims, Mr Falana said, “The United States and Nigeria have an extradition treaty which covers the offences allegedly committed by CP Abba Kyari.”

“If the police officer insists on his innocence, he may want to submit himself to the jurisdiction of the district court in the United States. Once the request is received by the federal government, the attorney general will commence extradition proceedings in the federal high court.”

Additional details in the indictment file contained how Mr Kyari left his job as a police officer and travelled to Dubai to enjoy a good time with Mr Abbas, who lived at Palazzo Versace in the Emirati commercial capital.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Nigerian Bar Association

States

Independence: NBA urges Nigerians to expect better future

The NBA said that ordinary Nigerians should be deriving benefit from the subsidy removal rather than hardship.

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Sultanate Council logo

NationWide

Sultanate Council plans Islamic microfinance bank to tackle poverty, unemployment

Mr Suharto noted that the initiative would support the poorest and most vulnerable individuals to develop sustainable livelihoods.

Oludare Ogunjobi

States

FRSC mourns Ogun sector commander

Mr Mohammed stated, “There are moments when words become inadequate to express the depth of our grief. This is one of such moments for the FRSC.”

The inaugurated CNG conversion stations in Kano State.

States

Presidential CNG initiative inaugurates two private refuelling, conversion stations in Kano

Mr Ahmed stated, “The future belongs to cheaper energy sources for transportation.”

Photo taken after the match at the area 3 football pitch. (NAN Photo)

Abuja

NLO Cup: City FC thrash Paul E FC 3-0 in Abuja

Coach Sunday Bege expressed confidence in City FC’s prospects.

Armed policemen.

States

Police rescue Catholic priest, five other kidnap victims in Benue

The PPRO said that the victims were rescued on Sunday evening by security agents.