Agba Jalingo, a journalist and activist, has described how suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari locked him in a car trunk and drove him from Lagos to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State.
In a statement issued on Monday, the activist also chastised operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for failing to handcuff Kyari and other suspects in court on Monday.
Kyari and other co-defendants appeared in an Abuja court on Monday after the Federal Government, through the NDLEA, arraigned them on eight counts of conspiracy, obstruction, and cocaine dealing, among other offenses.
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While two of Kyari’s associates pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them, the embattled former head of the Intelligence Response Team maintained his innocence.
Justice Emeka Nwite denied him bail and adjourned the case until Monday, ordering that Kyari and the other defendants be remanded in NDLEA custody.
In response to Kyari’s appearance in court on Monday, Jalingo accused security agencies of giving the cop preferential treatment.
Jalingo was imprisoned for 179 days at the Afokang Prison in Calabar in 2019 after the Cross River State Governor, Benedict Ayade, accused him of treason.
He was later released on bail on February 17, 2020.
On Monday, the activist recalled his ordeal in prison and revealed that Kyari and ACP Sunday Ubua drove him by road in a car trunk from Lagos to Calabar.
“Abba Kyari and ACP Ubua were paid by the Cross River Government to arrest me in Lagos, drive me by road in the booth of a Toyota Highlander, and hand me over to the government of Cross River,” Jalingo stated.
“Today, these men are in court, the same men who enjoyed gleefully parading their own suspects in the media, even against the law, they are now covering their faces.”
The same cameras they flaunted in the faces of those they kept and refused to even take to court.
Last year, the’super’ cop was involved in a fraud case involving Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi, and an American court ordered the Federal Bureau of Investigation to arrest him.
After nearly a year of dithering, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, recently approved Kyari’s extradition to the United States, but many observers have noted that the extradition process has hit a snag with the NDLEA’s case.
