It's very important to send a message to the criminals that Kyari and his people will
follow you wherever you are.
They will never forget.
He has a reputation in Nigeria as a "super cop", and has been celebrated by President
Buhari as a “hero” – with a ton of big criminal cases under his belt.
But in recent months, Abba Kyari has fallen out of favour in Nigeria, and is also wanted
in the United States.
A few days ago, his name was even trending globally on Twitter.
I’m Princess Irede Abumere and in this video I’m going to explain to you who Abba Kyari
is, why he’s so famous in Nigeria, and what exactly the allegations against him are.
So, let’s start with how he became known as ‘Nigeria’s Supercop’.
Abba Kyari was the youngest high-ranking officer in the Nigerian police force, and has built
a reputation for solving big criminal cases.
He received a presidential medal of courage in 2016 after his team rescued three kidnapped
girls in Lagos.
He was also honoured by the Lagos state government, winning the top award for gallantry three
years in a row.
In short - he has arrested some of the most notorious kidnappers and robbers, and received
a host of medals and commendations.
As Idayat Hassan says: “Possibly the most decorated police officer
in Nigeria in the last two decades”.
And he loved hanging out with politicians and celebrities.
So, how did he fall from grace?
Mr Kyari has in the past faced allegations of corruption and human rights abuses in Nigeria
- he has dismissed all these claims as false, and no action was ever taken against him in
relation to them.
But things changed in July 2021, when US law enforcement agencies said that he is wanted
over allegations of links to Instagram influencer and fraudster Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi.
He was suspended from the Nigerian police service in August 2021 over the alleged links.
A bit of background on Hushpuppi: he was an Instagram influencer who was arrested in Dubai
two years ago on fraud allegations, and extradited to the U.S. He has since pleaded guilty to
multi-million-dollar fraud charges filed against him by the American government.
Where does Abba Kyari come in?
US officials said that Hushpuppi had alleged in an affidavit that he got Mr Kyari to arrest
a syndicate member with whom he had fallen out.
Mr Kyari allegedly sent Hushpuppi details of a bank account in which he could deposit
payment for the arrest, the statement said.
But Mr Kyari has publicly denied any involvement in fraud or corruption with Hushpuppi, describing
the allegations as “false” and saying his "hands are clean”.
More allegations came on 14 February, when Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement
Agency, NDLEA, linked Mr Kyari to a drug deal involving 25 kilogrammes of cocaine worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In a statement, the NDLEA said that after the drugs were intercepted by his team, Abba
Kyari attempted to bribe the anti-drug agency’s officers with the aim of selling most of the
cocaine and sharing the proceeds.
But it says they refused to accept the deal and decided to expose him last month.
Mr Kyari has not yet commented publicly on these particular allegations.
So what does the future hold for Abba Kyari?
The recent indictment by the FBI shocked many Nigerians, but perhaps not as much as his arrest.
It's not yet clear whether he will be extradited to the US, or how the charges against him
in Nigeria will play out.