A major clash may ensue between the Nigerian Police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over officials of the anti-narcotic agency fingered by the Inspector-General of Police as collaborators with alleged drug barons.
On Monday, when the agency declared disgraced cop, Abba Kyari, wanted for alleged drug deals, the police leadership replied by confirming the involvement of six policemen and some unnamed NDLEA officials at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
The IGP also encouraged the leadership of NDLEA to unmask the unnamed officers, arrest and investigate them.
Nigerian Tribune, however, learnt that the NDLEA leadership is not likely buying the police story of its officers being indicted.
A system source calls it a red herring, to divert attention from the substance of the case against the senior police officers practically caught in the act.
It is yet to be established if the police leadership would be moving in for the said NDLEA staff. Information available to Nigerian Tribune also foreclosed the possibility of those mentioned being probed by the NDLEA leadership.
The system operative said the leadership had implicit confidence in the officers of the agency, given the institutional reprogramming they just went through.
The police leadership was challenged to name the said indicted officers of the agency if truly they were caught in the web of the drug business.
While the alleged barons were unmasked in the police statement disclosing Kyari’s arrest, no NDLEA officer was named, with the police asking the NDLEA leadership to do the identification properly.
It was also learnt last night that Kyari and the four policemen handed over to the agency on Monday were undergoing interrogation.
When the top operative was asked if there would be court appearances this week, the source was not definite, saying the outcome and pace of the interrogation would determine when the prosecution stage would commence.
“It is an ongoing process,” the operative noted.
Meanwhile, contrary to speculations, the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police, headed by Olatunji Disu, has not been disbanded on the order of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba.
Following the arrest of Kyari, a former head of the IRT, alongside some other operatives of the team, a media outfit had reported that the team had been disbanded on the order of the IGP.
When Nigerian Tribune visited the IRT office located at the Guzape District of Abuja on Tuesday, the entire complex was busy with normal activities.
Though the commander of the outfit, Disu, could not be reached as he was said to be busy at the time of the visit, one of the operatives debunked the claim of the online report.
“You can see things for yourself, we are working, the commander and his team are very much around. They are all busy doing one thing or the other.
“The truth is that our second-in-command and two others were taken away on Monday for questioning but that does that amount to closing the outfit,” he said.
At the Force Headquarters, efforts to speak with the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Akinjobi, failed, but another superior officer who spoke in confidence with the Nigerian Tribune described the report as fake news. (Nigerian Tribune)
