Abba Kyari, a suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, was exonerated by a Federal High Court in Abuja from a 23-count allegation of allegedly failing to declare assets that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had brought against him.
Justice James Omotosho ruled on Thursday that Kyari was not connected to the properties mentioned in the indictment by the prosecution. Along with his brothers, Mohammed and Ali Kyari, the suspended police officer was charged with making fraudulent affidavits to hide the source of the assets.
The court observed that the NDLEA failed to prove who owned the properties, including one in Kasana’s Fountain Estate that was purportedly Ramatu Kyari’s. The judge stated that conventional history, title documents, acts of possession, or possession related to ownership can all be used to prove ownership of landed property; none of these were offered by the prosecution.
The agency neglected to connect Kyari to other properties mentioned in the accusation, including as those on Linda Choko Road in Asokoro, Abuja, and Maiduguri, Borno State, according to Justice Omotosho.
The prosecution was unable to convincingly refute Kyari’s earlier statement to the court that the Borno property belonged to his late father and was inherited by him and his brothers.
Kyari has been exonerated in the assets case, but he and four other suspended police officers are still on trial before Justice Emeka Nwite for allegedly being involved in a cocaine deal involving drug traffickers Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne, who were found guilty and given two-year prison sentences in 2022.
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