Abba Kyari, the suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, on Wednesday told court that the terrorists who attacked Kuje prison wanted to take him to the desert, but he hid like rat to avoid such.
Kyari, who is facing drug trafficking charges, was among the inmates in Kuje Correctional Facility in Abuja, on July 5, when Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, attacked the facility leading to
about 879 inmates, including all 68 imprisoned Boko Haram members escaping from the prison.
He told the court through this lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), that though the terrorists had, after seizing the facility for over three hours, opened all the gates and forced inmates to escape, he declined to run away, along with four other members of the Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT, that were also remanded with him.
Addressing the court, Ikpeazu argued that the prison attack established “a special and exceptional circumstance” that should warrant the court to release his client and his men on bail, pending the determination of the charge the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, leveled against them.
Ikpeazu said, “My lord, every living soul in this country will agree that there was not just a breach, but that there was a grand terrorist attack by an organization that not only successfully invaded the Kuje Prison, but took control of it for over three hours.
“However, the applicant, being a law-abiding citizen, refused to take off.
“If there is anything to establish that the defendants will not jump bail, it was that circumstance.
“The gates of the prison were left open for over three hours.
“Infact, the Defendant hid like a rat, because the organization that conducted the attack went from cell to cell, saying they want to take him and the others to the desert.
“I don’t know where else in the world, where certified crime fighters that have endangered their lives and abandoned their families to serve the country, are kept in the same cubicle, with same criminals they made their arrest possible, with some of them facing death penalty.
“These people have suffered. They are traumatised by the events of that night. You can imagine what it felt like, witnessing the attackers planting explosives everywhere in the prison.”
Noting that the defendants anticipated that the prison facility could be attacked, Ikpeazu stressed that it was the reason they earlier applied for bail.
He went further to argue that the defendants, having been suspended by the police and in detention for over five months, do not have the capacity to interfere with witnesses the NDLEA intends to produce against them.
“They cannot even have access to the two convicts that are presently under the protection of the powerful prison service.
“Moreover, there is a constitutional presumption of innocence in favour of the defendants,” he added.
Ikoeazu, therefore, prayed the court to ignore NDLEA’s contention that Kyari and his men are being investigated over their alleged complicity in money laundering.
In the same manner, Gboyega Oyewole (SAN), who represented the 2nd defendant,
said that the NDLEA had in a counter-affidavit is filed in opposition to the fresh request for bail of the detained police officers, averred that; “hoodlums who undertook the breach, seized the prison facility for over three hours, but to the glory of God, no one died.”
He accused the agency of lying, noting that a security operative was killed during the attack.
He also contended that NDLEA’s counter-affidavit was grossly unreliable as it was not deposed to by a prison official.
NDLEA, on its part, through its Director of Legal Services, Sunday Joseph, prayed the court to refuse the Defendants’ fresh request for bail.
He insisted that there was no evidence to prove that Kyari and his men are being confined with criminals, adding however, that under the rule of law, no inmate ought to be accorded any preferential treatment.
He further argued that nothing was placed before the court to warrant the reconsideration of an earlier ruling of the court that denied the defendants bail.
“We, therefore, urge your lordship to refuse the application,” Joseph added.
After listening to their arguments,, trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned ruling on the Defendants’ fresh application for bail till August 30.