By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
For more than 24 hours, the indicted head of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari, has remained the top trend in Nigerian Twitter, plus getting prominent mentions in international news organisations.
On Twitter, even with its ban in the country, more than 100,000 tweets have referenced Abba Kyari, making him the number one trend in the microblogging App in Nigeria.
Abba Kyari’s case has elicited the interest of ordinary and influential Nigerians of all walks of life.
Here are a few tweets from Nigerians about the case.
A former presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election, Kingsley Moghalu, tweeted: “President @MBuhari has frequently opted for subjective loyalties over real political will on national security and fighting corruption. The US @FBI request for the extradition of accused police chief Abba Kyari in the Hushpuppi case will put him and Nigeria in the global spotlight.”
A lawyer, Inibehe Efgiong, also tweeted: “Abba Kyari has a notorious and frightening history of abuse of human rights. Many Nigerians have been arrested, detained and even murdered by IGP Response Team led by Kyari. Kyari has no respect for court orders or rule of law. He is celebrated because Nigeria is a crime scene.”
Reno Omokri, a former aide on social media to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, also adds: It will be very hard for Abba Kyari to deny the charges in the FBI’s indictment. I searched the numbers listed in the affidavit on TrueCaller. They’re matched to Kyari. Note that the confirmed numbers exchanged texts with Hushpupi’s numbers. How do we explain that?”
Abba Kyari has also got prominent mentions from global news organisations.
The CNN says this about the case. “Court documents cited by the Justice Department allege an undisclosed sum was paid to Kyari by Abbas, who pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering through cybercrime schemes on April 20, according to documents which were only unsealed Wednesday. Abbas also admitted his involvement in a conspiracy to defraud a Qatari businessman of more than $1 million, the US Justice Department said in a Wednesday statement. The alleged scam nearly fell apart after one of the group, Kelly Chibuzo Vincent, tried to tip-off their Qatari victim about the million-dollar fraud, the Justice Department said in the court papers. Abbas is accused of arranging to have Vincent jailed in Nigeria by Kyari, “who is alleged to have arranged for Vincent to be arrested and jailed at Abbas’ behest, and then sent Abbas photographs of Vincent after his arrest,” according to the court documents. Kyari, 46, is a highly-decorated officer, who was conferred with a Presidential medal for courage from Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari. The FBI alleges he sent Abbas bank details for an account where he could pay for agreeing to arrest Vincent.”
The BBC beamed the spotlight on the ‘super cop.’ it says: “Mr Kyari – who is celebrated in Nigeria for his efforts in leading fight against violent crime – is widely reported to be linked to the fraud and money laundering case against Nigerian influencer Ramon Abbas – also known as Hushpuppi.”
The Washington Post begins Abba Kyari’s article this way: “He is famous in Nigeria for catching notorious criminals — killers, kidnappers, bank robbers and Boko Haram extremists. Years of high-profile arrests won him acclaim and an enduring nickname: Supercop. Now Abba Alhaji Kyari, deputy commissioner for the Nigeria Police Force, stands accused of abusing his power to support a global fraud ring. Kyari, 46, is wanted in the United States on charges related to wire fraud and money laundering, according to court documents unsealed this week in California. One of Nigeria’s most infamous scammers — Ramon Abbas, who goes by the moniker “Hushpuppi” — told investigators that Kyari accepted a bribe last year to arrest a man who betrayed his cybercrime syndicate.”