When AK-47 Backfires!

Ade Olabode

As a weapon, AK-47 is a fearsome gun much loved by security operatives and dreaded by all. Incidentally, the now embattled 46-year-old Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari also bears the same initials AK as in the weapon AK-47. So, what happens when an AK-47 malfunctions and backfires? Consequences could be devastating, just as they are turning out to be for our Nigerian super cop AK who is entangled in a shocking alleged impropriety today.

Many Nigerians saw it coming, but the discerning kept mute until the bubble burst. The party spectacle some weeks ago of this celebrated police intelligence boss hobnobbing with Naira-spraying billionaires in Oba town in Anambra State raised quite a lot of eyebrows. It raised red flags too. It provoked questions begging for answers. What was a respected top law enforcement officer doing in an extravagant social event where the law against the abuse of the Naira was being blatantly violated with ‘spraying’ of money?

Even if the event host, who was celebrating the funerals of his late mother, was a close friend, should this crack detective be seen frolicking in such a loud and obscene social milieu? Well, the chicken has come home to roost. The impropriety of a super cop hobnobbing with strange bed fellows has landed DCP Kyari in his current scandal of being indicted in a busted transnational cyber scam case being handled by the FBI in the US. The former commander of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) was implicated by an international Nigerian internet fraudster Abbas Ramon, alias Hushpuppi, as receiving bribes from proceeds of crime.

As the lurid details of the scandal continue to spew out to a shocked public, Kyari has since been declared wanted by the US District Court and FBI who are prosecuting Hushpuppi. In Nigeria, Kyari, still presumed innocent until proven guilty, has been suspended and replaced as the head of IRT until the IGP-constituted police investigating panel turns in its report. Indeed, the man widely hailed as a super cop has also denied the indictment of receiving bribes from the fraudster Hushpuppi.

Sadly, the unfortunate development raises critical issues about our society. These issues include the persistent pandemic of corruption in Nigeria, the failure of the Nigerian government in dealing with corruption, the worsening image of the Nigeria Police, and the tragedy of Kyari himself being careless. On the issue of corruption being a pandemic, the scandalous Kyari case, while he is still presumed innocent, has further accentuated the fact that corruption is alive and thriving in Nigeria. And the Buhari government needs to go beyond paying lip service to fighting corruption, by actually fighting corruption without fear or favour.

We need to see the government openly and decisively making scapegoats of corrupt indicted public officials, no matter which tribe they come from, in ways that would deter others. Cases of those convicted of corruption being given soft landing through plea bargaining of only forfeiting their loot are unacceptable. Cases where some indicted public officials are only relieved of their positions and the rest is swept under the carpet would not stop corruption. Cases where indicted high-profile individuals politically cross over to the ruling party and their sins are forgiven would only be promoting corruption.

Now, the whole world would be watching how the Federal Government will handle the Kyari case when the Police Special Investigation Panel concludes its assignment and submits report. Will the government show the same alacrity in extraditing Kyari to the US, if he is found guilty of the allegations, the way it was aggressive in bundling IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to Nigeria and now trying to extradite Yoruba activist Sunday Igboho from Benin Republic? Will the police investigation panel also be allowed to do its job dispassionately, considering the fact that the US is a society where security agencies follow the rule of law and do not cook up frivolous allegations without having done thorough due diligence?

Talking about the Nigeria Police itself, the ongoing Kyari indignity has certainly further dented its already sordid public image. While one would admit that there are still good, credible officers within the police force, the preponderance of bad elements is serious cause for concern. The bad elements have over the years cast the image of the Nigeria Police as being brutal, extortionist, lawless, rude, arrogant and irredeemably corrupt. Civilians’ bitter encounters with the bad elements in police have confirmed those negative attributions, which incidentally led to the notorious #EndSARS protests last year. The onus is on the current IG to rise up to the occasion and institute concrete, sustainable police reforms as his legacy.

And lastly, there is the tragedy of public officers being careless, not learning lessons from precedents and ignoring the fact that public office is a matter of trust that should not be abused. Sometime ago, it was former EFCC boss Ibrahim Magu who was also disgraced for alleged corruption. Now, it is Abba Kyari. Whether he is eventually found innocent or not, the damage is already done. According to Kyari himself, he did not take any bribe but only helped sew some clothes for then Dubai-based Hushpuppi when the latter liked his dresses on social media and requested his assistance in getting similar dresses.

Did Kyari not know what kind of person Hushpuppi was before associating with him? Even if he did not later take bribes from the fraudster to allegedly arrest a certain Chibuzor in Nigeria, the mere association of a top cop with a well-known international dubious character is enough to dent Kyari’s credibility. Juxtaposing the Hushpuppi connection with his tactless open socializing at the obscene funeral event in Oba, Anambra State, one wonders how a celebrated crack detective could not detect the banana peels he was stepping on. What a tragedy!

Ade Olabode, Chairman Media Specialties Group, wrote in from Lagos.