Hushpuppi: 31 northern lawyers vow to defend Abba Kyari against FBI
A group comprising of 31 Northern lawyers on Wednesday August 11, vowed to defend embattled policeman, Abba Kyari against the FBI for free.
The lawyers have volunteered to render free legal services to the former commander of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) who’s currently facing an indictment by the FBI in the wire fraud case involving Hushpuppi, The PUNCH reports.
Recall that Abba Kyari had earlier been suspended from the Police force by the Inspector-General over links to fraudster, Hushpuppi and has been under series of investigations since then.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the group, Sunusi Bappah Salisu, in a statement said the volunteer lawyers were drawn across all the 19 northern states and religions.
According to him, the group’s action was in response to calls for support for Abba Kyari by the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG).
Salisu said they would critically review the procedures adopted by the FBI to get the US Court to indict Kyari on allegations of involvement in charges filed against Ramon Abbas aka Hushpuppi.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he added.
