The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has rejected an application filed by the detained Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Abba Kyari, to dismiss the drug trafficking charge slammed against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Delivering ruling on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite, said it found no reason to halt the hearing on how Kyari who hitherto headed the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and four other police officers, allegedly tampered with cocaine that was seized from two convicted drug peddlers- Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne.
According to the judge, the preliminary objection filed by the embattled DCP to challenge the legal competence of the charge lacked merit.
Justice Nwite held that the court was adequately empowered by Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to hear drug-related offences brought under the NDLEA Act.
He dismissed Kyari’s contention that the NDLEA ought to have allowed Police to exhaust its internal investigative/disciplinary mechanisms, before it instituted the court action.
It has been reported that the NDLEA had slammed Abba Kyari with an eight-count charge alongside four members of his IRT team; ACP Sunday J. Ubia, ASP Bawa James, Insp. Simon Agirigba and Insp. John Nuhu.
Kyari, who stated that the charge against him was legally defective, told the court that the charge was premature, stressing that Police had already commenced investigation on allegations against him and issued an interim report, before the NDLEA rushed him to court.
Kyari maintained that he could only be charged to court upon conclusion of the internal investigation by the police.
He argued that the Police Service Commission, PSC, has similar powers to investigate and discipline erring police officers in line with the Police Act & Regulations, the same way the National Judicial Council, NJC, discipline judicial officers.
