On Thursday, a Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a fundamental enforcement rights suit brought by suspended DCP Abba Kyari against the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
After Joseph Sunday, counsel for the NDLEA, requested that the case be dismissed, Justice Inyang Ekwo dismissed the case.
Cynthia Ikena, Kyari’s counsel, was not present when the case was called.
Mr. Sunday, the Director of Prosecution and Legal Services for the NDLEA, urged the court to dismiss the case.
Ikena wrote a letter to the court requesting an adjournment, according to Justice Ekwo.
However, because the letter was not filed by a lawyer, it did not comply with the court’s rules.
The letter was ordered to be handed to the NDLEA’s counsel by the judge.
Mr. Sunday, who was taken aback by the situation, claimed that he was not copied in the letter as required by law.
He asked the court to dismiss the case.
Justice Ekwo dismissed the matter after hearing from the NDLEA’s lawyer.
In addition, the judge dismissed the lawsuit after looking into the substantive matter and determining that the parties had merged matters in the action.
Mr Ekwo threatened to dismiss the fundamental enforcement rights litigation on March 15 after Ikena failed to serve her further and better affidavit on Sunday after being served with the counter affidavit on February 28.
In a brief ruling, Justice Ekwo threatened to dismiss the case if the lawyer was not prepared for the next adjourned date.
“Get your house in order before the next hearing date, and if you don’t, I’ll presume you’re trying to delay the case, and the action will be dismissed,” he stated.
Mr Kyari claimed that the allegations leveled against him by the NDLEA were false.
This was revealed in an affidavit filed before Ekwo in support of his motion ex-parte, entitled FHC/ANJ/CS/182/22.
Muhammad Usman, Kyari’s younger brother, deposed to the affidavit, which was dated Feb. 16 and submitted Feb. 17.
Mr Kyari had put out the application to have his fundamental rights enforced through Ikena.
Mr Kyari called the NDLEA allegations against him “trump-up” in the document.
He said the CIA had failed to prove a case against him on a prima facie basis.
He said that the anti-narcotics agency’s claim that he was linked to an international drug syndicate was false.
He said that he had been held in detention without access to medical treatment since the Nigerian Police Force detained him and handed him over to the NDLEA on February 12th.
He claimed that his arrest and ongoing detention were a violation of his basic human rights.
In an originating motion on notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/182/22, dated Feb. 16 and filed Feb. 17, Mr Kyari, a former head of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT, requested N500 million in damages from the NDLEA over alleged unlawful arrest and detention.
He also requested an order mandating the NDLEA to publish two national dailies with a written apology to him.
Mr Kyari urged the court to accept the plea for bail in the interest of justice, claiming that the NDLEA would continue to trespass on his fundamental rights if the court did not interfere.
On the order of the trial court, Mr Kyari and his co-defendants, all of whom are police officers, are being held at Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja in connection with an alleged drug trafficking charge brought against them and two others before Justice Emeka Nwite of a Federal High Court in Abuja.