Abba Kyari, the former head of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at the Lagos Police Command who in 2016 became the Assistant Commissioner of Police before his current position to head the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) recently made headlines following his exposed dealings with Hushpuppi.
In a recent development, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had secured a court order for Kyari’s arrest following his indictment in the confessional statements made by Hushpuppi and in turn, DCP Abba Kyari has been suspended from the force.
DCP Abba Kayari comes from a large family, he has 29 siblings, he was brought up by his stepmother, he started life as a Motorcyclist in Maiduguri and in-between selling patrols in kegs during scarcity to cater for himself, and his siblings. He is happily married with 4 children. In the interview he granted Punch, Abba Kyari narrated his humble beginnings, why he joined the police force and life as a family man,
After my university education, the opportunity came for me to be recruited into the Nigeria Police and I embraced it. I think I was the youngest in my state when I applied to become a police officer. I was about 24 years old. Growing up in a polygamous home with over 30 siblings was not easy, We are not from a wealthy family so it was not easy. I started struggling to survive right from when I was in secondary school because my mother left when I was seven years old after giving birth to four of us. Her last child was about one year old when she left so we were raised by our stepmothers. It was not easy being raised by a stepmother because there were so many things that their children would benefit from which you wouldn’t be able to get.
I used to take my motorcycle to lecture halls and immediately after a lecture, I would quickly go and get some passengers to their destinations to make some money. Then I would rush back to school after about two hours to attend my next lecture. I did that till I left school. I did not have the time to enjoy my university days like most of my colleagues. I also sold petrol in kegs by the roadside whenever there was fuel scarcity – what people know as the black market. During that time, there could be fuel scarcity for about seven months in a year and during that period; the petrol stations would be plagued by queues. At such times, some motorists would always come to us. It was more lucrative than being a commercial motorcyclist. I can remember that I was making about N900 per day from the motorcycle business but the fuel business fetched me about N250 daily. Whenever there was surplus fuel, I just stuck to my motorcycle”.
