The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, dismissed an application filed by embattled celebrated policeman, Abba Kyari, seeking to quash the drug trafficking charges filed against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police and former Head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, is standing trial alongside three other policemen.
His co-defendants are Assistant Commissioner of Police Sunday Ubia; Inspector Simon Agirigba, and Inspector John Nuhu.
The defendants, through their lawyers, had on January 18, contended that the charges filed against them by the NDLEA were incompetent.
They contended that the NDELA could not prosecute them when they had not been subjected to the internal disciplinary action of the Nigeria Police Council and the Police Service Commission, as provided by the 1999 Constitution.
The defendants contended that the failure of the NDLEA to await the police internal disciplinary action against them had rendered the charges incompetent and robbed the court of jurisdiction to hear the case.
They, therefore, urged the court to quash the charges and set them free.
But prosecuting counsel for the NDLEA, Joseph Sunday,opposed the application and urged the court to decline granting it.
Ruling on Wednesday, Justice Emeka Nwite,agreed with the prosecution and threw out the defendants’ application.
Justice Nwite held that the powers of the Police Service Commission did not supersede the powers of the Federal High Court.
The judge stated that the court had the exclusive right and jurisdiction to hear drug-related cases and determine the charge as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and the NDLEA Act.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that on September 5, 2022, in a fresh suit filed at the Federal High Court, the NDLEA also accused Kyari of non-disclosure of assets.
In the fresh 24 counts, the NDLEA alleged that Kyari failed to declare his ownership of property in different locations in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Maiduguri.
The anti-drug agency also said over N207m and €17,598 were found in his various accounts in three banks.
