31 northern lawyers ready to defend Abba Kyari in Hushpuppi case

Some 31 young lawyers of northern extraction, have offered to defend suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Abba Kyari in the United States, should he be extradited to face trial.

Suspected internet fraudster, Hushpuppi, had confessed to U.S law enforcement that he used the top police officer to launder $1.1 million.

Kyari has since been suspended by the police high command in Nigeria, and stripped of his position as Head of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

In a statement issued by Sunusi Salisu in Abuja, the lawyers say they are drawn from the 19 northern states and across all religions and tribes.

They say they are doing this for the preservation of Kyari’s fundamental human rights which could be jeopardised by the indictment from U.S law enforcement.

The lawyers say “they would critically review the procedures adopted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to get the U.S. court to indict Kyari on allegations of involvement in charges filed against a suspected fraudster, Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas.

“We would raise questions involving the possibility of the occasioning of breaches to Kyari’s fundamental rights entrenched in Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, which essentially state that every individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person and every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard.”

At some points, Kyari acted as Hushpuppi's fashion consultant and ran errands for him.