Gangsters and criminals shiver at the mention of his name because Abba Kyari, the tall and handsome Maiduguri, Borno State born crime buster has successfully planned, co-ordinated and executed the crushing of major armed robbery syndicates terrorizing not just Lagos State, but the entire South West. For some time now, the whole of the South West states witnessed fewer armed robbery attacks after Lagos SARS men, led by Abba Kyari, silenced the three major armed robbery syndicates that terrorised the region, which forced some banks, especially in Ogun and Ondo States, to close operations when the attacks became unbearable.
Abba Kyari, led the Special Anti Robbery Squad, of the Lagos State Police Command for about four years and he did phenomenally well combating crime thereby making scores of men of the underworld face the full wrath of the law.
Proficiency and hardwork earned him the reputation of a first class crime buster and he has a long list of high profile criminal cases, even in places outside, Lagos, his primary operational base, to his credit.
Sampler: When tragedy struck in Delta State in form of kidnapping of the foster mother of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, It was Abba Kyari and his men that were called upon to unravel the mystery and smashed the gang that kidnapped the mother of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, during her tenure as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance. The crime was committed in Ugwuashi-Uku in Delta State. In record time, he completed the assignment expanding his area of focus to Edo, Rivers and Anambra States.
The police, under his watch, arrested the gang leader, one Jide Ojo a.k.a Marvelous, Buhari Hamadola, Hassan Oseni, Micheal Ojeabulu,Endurance Eke and Ibrahim Abubakar.
On March 13, 2013, a gang of dare devil robbers stormed the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, in a never seen before style killing 2 Policemen and robbing bureau de change operators of cash running into millions of local and foreign currency.
It was SP Abba Kyari and his men that arrested three of the robbers namely; Olanrewaju John a.k.a Pastor, Okunola Saheed and Saheed Adekunle, who were arrested in Lagos and Ikire, Osun state, respectively.
The first arrest led to their hideout in a thick forest in Agoro area in Odogbolu Local Government area of Ogun state, where arms and ammunitions were recovered including Five AK-47 rifles,54 AK-47 Magazines all loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunitionsas well as 4 dynamites, two locally made pistol with three cartridges concealed in an iron box buried in the bush.
Aside the cache of arms, Abba and his men retrieved the two Toyota Sienna Space Buses with Reg No BDG 918 AG and AAA 984 AJ used for the airport operation.
Six more gang members, Kazeem Aderibigbe, Ibrahim Abdulahi, Toba Adeniyi, Felix Sunday, Esho, Chimobi, were later arrested.
Under his watch, the kidnapping gang that one kidnapped one Yahaya Aminu Dutse, a staff of Dangote Group of Company and cousin to Aliko Dangote, were apprehended with large cache of arms and ammunitions and were made to face the wrath of the law.
Abiodun Egunjobi, better known as Godododo, was the leaders of a notorious robbery gang terrorizing the South West. Abba led the team of crack detectives that nabbed Egunjobi in his mansion at Olowu area of Egbeda, in Ibadan Oyo state with two Ak-47 rifles, ten Ak-47 magazines fully loaded and a police bullet proof vest. Egunjobi’s gang, was reportedly said to have killed well over fifty policemen and several civilians. Shortly before his arrest, he was said to have killed the owner of 04 Hotel in Ajah, Lagos along with his six other occupants including two policemen and robbed several other places in Lagos. Abiodun was also said to have led bank robberies in Kwara, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Oyo states.
He led the team that burst an international armed syndicate operating in full military uniforms who had earlier kidnapped the chairman, Ejigbo L G A in Lagos, Hon Kehinde Bamgbetan. Kyari, acting on a GPS obtained from a car tracking data of a victim kidnapped in June 9,2013, led a team of crack detectives to Edu Village, Agbara, Ogun state where the deadly kidnappers were apprehended. During the search of the camp, four Ak-47 rifles,28 Ak-47 magazines fully loaded with thirty rounds of live ammunitions were recovered.
Charms, Army uniforms as well as their operational vehicles were recovered. The operation led to the rescue of an Indian nationale, Vivex Changrani, who was kidnapped by the gang at Ikoyi area of Lagos. was successfully rescued from their camp without any injury.
His exploit as OC SARS in Lagos was evident up to the eve of his departure. It is to his credit that no robbery case was left unresolved before he moved on. Such high profile cases such as the FCMB robbery at Lekki and the Ikorodu bank robberies were unraveled and the culprits made to face the law.
Abba Kyari his studied Geography at the University of Maiduguri,Borno Statebefore joining the Nigerian Police Force and had served in different formations before his posting as Officer in Charge, Special Anti Robbery squad, Lagos State Police Command.
In 2011 and 2012, he was honoured with Gallantry and Service Excellence Award by the Lagos state government, and in won the Inspector General of Police Commendation Award for Courage in 2012 and 2013 and was recently promoted to the rank of Chief Superintendent of Police.
Lagosians and Lagos State Police command will miss this dedicated, dutiful and gallant policeman but their prayer would definitely be that Abba Kyari will one day return to the command to serve in a higher capacity may be as its commissioner.
