The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has petitioned the United States Embassy in Nigeria, demanding for fairness in the matter of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari.
The CNG in a letter served and duly endorsed by the American Embassy in Abuja on August 14, said it did not deny the FBI or any other police organisation to investigate crimes, but is worried by the trajectory introduced around Kyari’s case.
The petition signed by CNG’s Spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, noted that the FBI, an acclaimed American security agency, might invariably have breached the standard legal and diplomatic practice by neglecting to contact either the Nigerian High Commission in the US or the Nigerian authorities through the FBI liaison offices based in Nigeria before going ahead to file for indictment of a top Nigerian security officer.
The petition reads: “The FBI might have breached another fundamental criminal justice procedure by not according Mr Kyari the benefit of being heard before going ahead with the purported indictment by an American Court in the US for an offence purportedly committed in Nigeria, triable under Nigerian laws, by Nigerian courts and on Nigerian land.
“A breach of decorum and negligence of procedure might have also occurred when the FBI hurriedly published the purported indictment online without first intimating the Nigerian authorities and hearing the accused’s case.
“Let it also be clear that there is a mounting public concern that the action of the FBI could suggest that the US might wilfully be participating in Nigeria’s current political chase game and playing the card of the gang up of regional and ethnic propagandists against northern interests.
“We are committed to a just, fair and democratic global community where every citizen will be free to exercise his or her constitutional rights while respecting the rights and dignity of others. We are also committed to engaging with our international friends and partners based on mutual respect, harmony, international order and the principles of sovereignty.”
