The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, dismissed the no-case submission filed by suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, and his co-defendants.
In its ruling, the court ordered the defendants to open their respective defences in the drug trafficking and tampering case instituted against them by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
Justice Emeka Nwite, who delivered the ruling, stated that a prima facie case had been established.
Kyari and his co-defendants are accused of tampering with and dealing in hard drugs, specifically 17.55 kilograms of cocaine.
The NDLEA arraigned Kyari and six others in March 2022 on allegations of conspiring to tamper with and traffic 21.35 kilograms of cocaine seized from suspected drug traffickers.
The defendants include police officers, Sunday Ubia, Bawa James, Simon Agirigba, and John Nuhu—as well as two alleged traffickers, Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne. They are facing a five-count charge related to drug trafficking.
The charges read, “That you, DCP Abba Kyari, ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirigba, and Inspector John Nuhu, all male adults, on or about the 19th to 25th of January 2022, within the office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, unlawfully tampered with 21.35 kilograms of cocaine seized from Chibunna Patrick Umeibe and Emeka Alphonsus Ezenwanne in the custody of the IGP-IRT, by removing and disposing of 17.55 kilograms of the cocaine and substituting it with another substance.”
The charges are brought under Section 14(b) of the NDLEA Act, CAP N30, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
While Kyari and the other officers pleaded not guilty, Umeibe and Ezenwanne pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing 21.35 kilograms of cocaine.
The two later entered into a plea bargain with the NDLEA and were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by Justice Nwite on June 14, 2022.
During the ongoing trial, NDLEA counsel, Sunday Joseph, presented several witnesses to establish that Kyari and his team tampered with the seized cocaine.
Following the closure of the NDLEA’s case, the defence team filed no-case submissions, arguing that the evidence presented was insufficient to warrant their clients entering a defence.
However, at the resumed hearing, Justice Nwite ruled, “Even assuming, without conceding, that the defendants were charged with an amount of cocaine either less than or greater than 17.55 kilograms, it does not negate the fact that there is prima facie evidence that Kyari tampered with or dealt in cocaine.”
The judge further held that the NDLEA was not required to prove the exact quantity of cocaine alleged in the charges, as the applicable law does not vary punishment based on quantity.
“There is absolutely nothing in the section under which the defendants were charged that provides for different punishments based on the quantity of cocaine,” Justice Nwite emphasised.
He clarified that the offence lies in the possession or tampering with cocaine, regardless of quantity.
“In view of the foregoing, I am of the view, and I so hold, that a prima facie case has been made out against the first defendant (Abba Kyari) in the five-count charge of drug trafficking. I hereby order him to enter his defence on all five counts,” he ruled.
Justice Nwite also rejected the no-case submissions of Kyari’s co-defendants and ordered them to proceed with their defences.
The case has been adjourned to May 21, for the defendants to begin presenting their defences.
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