But my focus today is his entanglement with Abbas the international fraudster, Abbas Igbalode Ramoni, his jet set Instagram lifestyle, which culminated to his arrest and prosecution in the US has been properly documented in numerous publications and I wont bore you with details.
My concern is with Abba Kyari, the foremost super cop in the Nigerian Police, in the past I have spoken publicly and privately about kyari being a bright spot in the otherwise seriously tainted Nigerian Police. According to reports by Global Corruption Barometer Africa 2019: Citizens Views and Experience on Corruption.
About 69 per cent of those who participated in the survey ticked the police as the most corrupt institution, 60 per cent went for members of the parliament, 51 per cent went for judges, while 43 per cent chose the executive arm of government. Hence the Nigerian police is perhaps the undisputed most corrupt institution in the eyes of Nigerians. It was indeed the same Nigerian Police that triggered a near revolution in the #Endsars movement.
So when someone like Kyari shot into limelight some few years ago, precisely during the capture of Evans the kidnapper. It gave Nigerians a glimmer of hope that perhaps the Nigerian police should not be written off and Kyari represented that hope. Since then he received commendations all over with the most memorable one coming from the National Assembly.
Since then I followed his career albeit remotely, he deservedly got quick promotions above his pairs and was on a fast track to the top. However I got worried for him when he turned himself to a social media celebrity, hugging the limelight like some social media influencer, with video/pictures of him openly associating with questionable characters.
I wondered if the fame had gotten to his head or he became too big to be cautioned by his superiors, by his professional calling, discretion should be a given. These unforced errors was a slippery slope to infamy.
When the FBI dossier came to limelight, I was not really surprised, as the saying goes, "show me your friends I will tell you who are ". This was bound to happened. You can’t lie with dogs and don't expect to wake up with fleas. Yet again his love for the limelight pushed him to another unforced error, his response not only ridiculed him but the entire police force. It is an inglorious end to an otherwise promising career.
On final note, nobody should be bigger than an institution, it was obvious Kyari became a law unto himself. If his superior had provided proper guidance and mentor ship perhaps this inglorious end would have been avoided. But yet again, with the endemic corruption within the system do they have the morale high ground to provide such support? Your guess is as good as mine
Oladapo Kasumu
Public Affairs Analyst, writes from Lagos. Oladapo.kasumu@gmail.com
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