The news came as a shock: DCP Abba Kyari, possibly the most accomplished and celebrated young cop in recent memory, was wanted for drugs. It sounded so incredible, in large part because, following his indictment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over his involvement with the disgraced international scammer, Raymond Abbas (Hushpuppi) in a $1.1 million fraud case, Kyari was suspended by the Police Service Commission, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, had given indications that there might be a definitive, positive decision on the extradition request by It defies imagination that an officer facing such a dreadful prospect would be involved in a drug deal.

Unfortunately, as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency revealed on Monday, February 14, the suspended Commander of Intelligence Response Team at the Nigerian Police Force’s Force Intelligence Bureau was wanted for his involvement in a 25-kilogram cocaine deal, with the decision to declare him wanted based on his refusal to comply with formal interrogation requests. As it noted, even before the damning findings of the 2018 National Drug Use and Health Survey, Nigeria’s drug problem was getting close to epidemic proportions, and the arrests and seizures by the agency in the past 12 months was an indication that the country’s drug problem was grossly underestimated prior to (the) President, (Major General) Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd) resolve to strengthen the NDLEA and the subsequent launch of offensive actions to rid the society of the menace. It regretted the fact that some law enforcement agents who should be working together to carry out the President’s mission were assisting and abetting drug trafficking in the country.

The facts of the Kyari saga are quite gripping: on Friday, January 21, the famed cop contacted an NDLEA officer in Abuja at 2:12 p.m., advising him of the need to discuss “an operational matter” following the Juma’at service. During the encounter with the officer, Kyari shared information that his team had stopped and apprehended some traffickers who had entered the country from Ethiopia with 25kg of cocaine. He then offered a narcotics transaction in which he and his crew would take 15kg of cocaine while leaving 10kg for the prosecution of the people detained  with the illicit drug in Enugu State. In the meantime, the purloined cocaine would be replaced with a dummy worth 15kg. He asked the officer to get men from the FCT Command to play along. Kyari further revealed that the 15kg previously taken out was split between the informants who gave information for the seizure and himself and his men at the IRT: the informants received 7kg, while his team received 8. He then offered to reimburse the NDLEA team by selling half of the remaining 10kg on their behalf, bringing the total amount of cocaine for prosecution down to 5kg. At N7 million per kilogram, 5 kg would fetch N35 million. In effect, he would be handing $61,400 to the NDLEA squad.

As a man of his (corrupt) word, Kyari delivered the $61, 400, which the NDLEA officer, working on instructions from the agency’s  leadership, said he preferred to collect inside his car, a vehicle already wired with sound and video recorders. Anyway, a few hours after he was declared wanted by the NDLEA, Kyari’s embarrassed employers handed him over to the agency, along with four other suspects, namely ACP Sunday J. Ubua; ASP Bawa James; Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu, with the NDLEA promising that no stone would be left unturned in ensuring that all suspects already in custody and those who might still be indicted in the course of the investigation face the wrath of the law. However, the story was still unfolding, as the NPF argued that some NDLEA officials were also implicated in the drug sale and should be detained and prosecuted by the agency. In response, the NDLEA dismissed the remark as a false herring, claiming that it had no reason to shield anyone who might be indicted in the course of the ongoing investigation.

To say the least, the Kyari saga should be of great concern to any decent Nigerian. In 2019, the 2018 National Drug Use Survey, conducted jointly by the National Bureau of Statistics and the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse with technical assistance from the UNODC, revealed that 14.3 million Nigerians aged 15 to 64 were drug users. The situation has deteriorated since then, and it is clear that if no action is taken, the future of Nigeria’s younger generation would be destroyed. Statistics show that Nigeria is experiencing a drug pandemic, with drug lords selling drugged cookies to pre-school and nursery school students. There is currently a Mpuru nmiri plague in the South East. Indeed, the way young people under the influence of narcotics cause a nuisance with their brazen disrespect for elders and constituted authority is concerning.

The country is deteriorating as a result of Yahoo Yahoo and ritual killings, both of which include drug misuse. It is heartbreaking that a cop who has received numerous honors has been caught up in such a mess. If a suspended police officer can commit such an illegal act in security circles, the country is clearly in danger. It is true that many police officers live beyond their means, driving showy automobiles and building estates. They collaborate with criminals to undermine the law. They commit crimes with the weaponry they were given to defend Nigerians. Instead of sanitizing society, they use it for personal gain. According to publicly available information, this is not the first time the super cop has been involved in narcotics deals. He deserves the harshest sentence.

To be honest, the NDLEA’s leadership under Buba Marwa deserves credit for its strategic interception of the super villain: if the vehicle of the NDLEA officer who played along to expose the villain had not been wired, the story would have been reduced to an attempt to witch-hunt or blackmail Kyari. The obvious has emerged, and it is a disgrace for our national security apparatus, particularly the policing system, which has kept irredeemable criminals on the force. Nigeria would face serious consequences unless such crooks are removed from the force. Marwa and his colleagues cannot rest on their laurels. There will be hurdles, but they should endeavor to leave their mark on the sands of time. Nigeria requires a brave anti-drug czar who can resist the allure of money and save the country from future hardship. For what would drugs bring but misery? Bad eggs should be pushed out so that Nigeria does not remain a laughing stock in the international community.

Since his appointment, Marwa has been doing well. For example, between January and May of last year, the NDLEA made cash and narcotics seizures totaling more than N100 billion. The agency has arrested approximately 8,634 drug traffickers, including five significant drug barons. It has recovered over 2.7 million kg of various illicit narcotics, filed over 5,000 drug charges in court, and obtained more than 1,630 convictions. That, in my opinion, is the stuff of mythology.