The Federal High Court in Abuja has waived an application by the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, in which he (Kyari) was seeking for the High Court to clear all charges filed against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Recall that Kyari is currently facing trial after he was caught, arrested, and arraigned before the court by the NDLEA in 2022.
Kyari is being charged before the Federal High Court on a conspiracy to deal in 17.55kg of cocaine and dealing in cocaine illegally; conspiring to tamper with cocaine and illicitly tampering with the 21.35kg of cocaine commandeered from two convicted drug dealers.
Meanwhile, Kyari’s defense, as he had told the law court, was that the charges against him were premature, reiterating that the NDLEA should have allowed the police to exhaust its internal machinery before dragging him to the high court. This was as police officials had already begun an investigation into the allegations against him and had also issued an interim report, insisting that he could only be charged in court after the conclusion of the internal investigation by the police.
But the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, had countered Kyari’s argument, saying that the powers of the Police Service Commission did not supersede the powers of the Federal High Court.
In Justice Nwite’s ruling on Wednesday, March 22, he had therefore dismissed Kyari’s application on the ground that the High court had the exclusive right and Jurisdiction to hear drug-related cases as was in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended) and the NDLEA Act.
