PSC creates another Kyari panel, says IGP panel complementary by Adelani Adepegba and Lesi Nwisagbo

The Police Service Commission has set up an in-house panel to study documents related to the suspended former Head of the Intelligence Response Team, DC Abba Kyari. The commission stated that it had the final say on the investigation of Kyari, adding that it was not bound to accept the recommendations of the Special Investigation Panel set up by the Inspector-General of Police to probe the DCP’s indictment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Commissioner in charge of Media in the PSC, Mr Austin Braimoh, told The PUNCH on Thursday that the commission had the constitutional mandate to investigate any police officer from a constable to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police. He said, “We are awaiting the report from the IG which is constitutional as well. The in-house panel is also working, starting from the department to the standing committee. “We assure Nigerians that justice will be done and there is no way anyone will teleguide the commission. “If there is a need for the FBI report, we will request for it; if it requires sending someone to the United States, we will send people there without prejudice to what the IG panel has recommended. “We are only following the constitutional procedure; the IG must forward all his recommendations to us. We are not bound to accept the IG’s recommendations but he must forward the report to us because we are the one that would take the final decision.” The PSC spokesman, Ikechukwu Ani, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, titled, ‘PSC waits for Abba Kyari report, sets up in-house panel,’ explained that the commission’s panel which was inaugurated by the Permanent Secretary/ Secretary to the commission, Alhaji Abubakar Ismaila, is headed by the Director, Department of Police Discipline in the Commission, Tijani Mohammed, a lawyer. The statement reads partly, “The report of the in-house panel is expected to assist the commission take an informed decision when the investigative panel report is submitted for the commission’s consideration. Hushpuppi: Special investigation on DCP Abba Kyari yet to submit report -NPF “The commission had also directed the Inspector-General of Police to furnish it with information on further development on the matter for necessary further action.” Kyari had been indicted by the FBI in a $1.1m Internet scam allegedly carried out by an Instagram influencer, Abbas Ramon, commonly known as Hushpuppi and four others. Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday declined granting an ex-parte application seeking to restrain the Nigeria Police and the Attorney General of the Federation from arresting and extraditing suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari. Justice Ahmed Mohammed rejected the application filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Northern Peace Foundation. Rather, the Judge ordered the counsel to turn the ex-parte motion to motion on notice and serve the same on police and AGF. PUNCH.