The suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Abba Kyari, who is facing drug trafficking charge, has said he should be granted bail because he refused to escape with other inmates on the night terrorists attacked Kuje Prison in Abuja.
Kyari, on Wednesday, through his counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) told the court to release him and his colleagues on bail, pending the resolve of the charge by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), preferred against them.
Terrorists launched an attack on Kuje Prison on July 5, which led to the escape of about 879 inmates, including all 68 imprisoned Boko Haram members.
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters later claimed responsibility for the assault.
Kyari, popularly branded ‘Supercop’, told the court that he and his imprisoned members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) hid like rats on that deadly night.
He argued that the prison attack established “a special and exceptional circumstance” that should warrant the court to release him and his men on bail.
Ikpeazu, addressing the court on behalf of his client, Kyari, said: “My lord, every living soul in this country will agree that there was not just a breach, but that there was a grand terrorist attack by an organisation that not only successfully invaded the Kuje Prison, but took control of it for over three hours.
“However, the applicant, being a law-abiding citizen, refused to take off.
“If there is anything to establish that the defendants will not jump bail, it was that circumstance. The gates of the prison were left open for over three hours.
“In fact, the defendant hid like a rat, because the organisation that conducted the attack went from cell to cell, saying they want to take him and the others to the desert.
“I don’t know where else in the world, where certified crime fighters that have endangered their lives and abandoned their families to serve the country, are kept in the same cubicle, with same criminals they made their arrest possible, with some of them facing death penalty.
“These people have suffered. They are traumatized by the events of that night. You can imagine what it felt like, witnessing the attackers planting explosives everywhere in the prison.” Continue Reading
