A court document in the United States has revealed how Abba Kyari, deputy commissioner of police in the Nigeria Police Force, met the infamous suspected fraudster, Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, better known as Hushpuppi.
The US District Court for the Central District of California had on Thursday, issued a warrant of arrest for Kyari, ordering the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to track down the Nigerian senior police officer and produce him in the country over his role in the fraud committed by Hushpuppi.
Judge Otis Wright’s permission for the FBI to arrest Kyari and hold him in U.S custody was unsealed on July 26.
Andrew John Innocenti, a special agent of the FBI, in the court affidavit he sworn to, said according to messages exchanged between Kyari and Hushpuppi which he reviewed, the latter interacted with the former in September 2019, when the police officer travelled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“The conversation indicated that Abbas (Hushpuppi) sent a car and driver to drive Kyari during that trip. Soon after Kyari sent Abbas a video slideshow which showed some personal photographs of Kyari some of which appeared to have been taken in the U.A.E”, the court document said.
“Later in September, after Kyari sent Abbas an article that discussed him arresting alleged kidnappers, Abbas wrote in part, to Kyari, ‘Am really happy to be ur boy’ and later, ‘I promise to be a good boy to you sir’.
The court document showed how Hushpuppi paid Kyari to arrest Chibuzo Vincent, a colleague of his, with whom he had a dispute following a fraudulent business deal with a Qatari businessman.
The document revealed that Hushpuppi worked with some of his partners in crime – including the 40-year-old, 28-year-old Abdulrahman Juma from Kenya, Yusuf Anifowoshe, 26; Rukayat Fashola, 28; and Bolatito Agbabiaka, 34, the trio from Nigeria – to defraud the businessperson (whose name was withheld) by claiming to be consultants and bankers who could facilitate a loan to finance the construction of a school in Qatar.
The document said that, “Chibuzo contacted ‘the job’ behind Abbas back to divert the job for himself. Abbas asked Kyari to have the police administer ‘the serious beating of his life’ and arranged with Kyari to pay to keep Chibuzo imprisoned for at least a month, so that the fraud scheme could be successfully executed and the money could be obtained.
“After Kyari arrested Chibuzo, he sent photographs of Chibuzo in custody and later told Abbas that he would not allow Chibuzo’s girlfriend to pay money to get Chibuzo out of the custody as he would have done for ‘normal arrest.’”
Reacting to the development, Usman Baba, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), on Thursday, ordered the probe of the allegations.
In a statement by Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), the police promised to work with the FBI on the matter.
