Oyogist.com has learned that about 31 northern Nigeria lawyers on Wednesday offered to render free legal services to the former commander of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari.
Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, is facing allegations of corruption levelled against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States and following that the he was suspended by the Police Service Commission.
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.
The legal practitioners said their decision to offer free legal services to Kyari was in response to the recent call by the Coalition of Northern Groups.
The statement reads: “They would critically review the procedures adopted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to get the U.S. court to indict Kyari on allegations of involvement in charges filed against a suspected fraudster, Ramon ‘Hushpuppi’ Abbas.
“We would raise questions involving the possibility of the occasioning 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.”
This comprises: the right to an appeal to competent national organs against acts of violating his fundamental rights as recognized and guaranteed by conventions, laws, regulations and customs in force.
“The right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent court or tribunal; the right to defence, including the right to be defended by counsel of his choice; the right to be tried within a reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal.”
