A group of 31 lawyers from northern Nigeria have volunteered to provide legal services for the embattled top cop, Abba Kyari, who is currently being investigated for involvement in an international fraud syndicate.
Kyari, who was the head of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, is wanted in the United States of America after he was indicted by the country’s court at the instance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He was later suspended by the Nigeria Police Service Commission to enable the police to properly investigate him.
The group of lawyers jostling to defend him, according to a statement by their spokesperson, Sunusi Bappah Salisu, are drawn from the 19 northern states.
The group said they heeded the call for support for Kyari issued by the Coalition of Northern Groups.
He said they were prepared to defend Kyari’s fundamental rights and ensure that he was not unfairly treated.
The group said in the statement, “We would raise questions involving the possibility 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.”
“Also, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.”
