The corporate philosophy of his leadership, which is rooted in the scriptures, coupled with his military intelligence background has propelled his workforce to greater heights. He spares nothing as far as leading his men in the battle field when armed robbery is concerned. Abba Kyari, the officer-in-charge of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos State, has done phenomenally well in combating crime in his almost four-year tenure as officer-in-charge of anti-robbery in Lagos State.
And his great success has endeared him to the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who honoured him in 2011 and 2012, with awards for excellence for his inestimable contribution to the security of Lagos State. Last year alone looked like a summit of his successes in combating crime not just in Lagos State alone but the whole of the South West region of Nigeria.
The tall and handsome Maiduguri, Borno State born security expert has successfully planned, co-ordinated and executed the crushing of major armed robbery syndicates terrorising the entire South West in the last 12 months. Since September last year, the whole of the South West states have witnessed fewer armed robbery attacks after SARS men, led by Kyari, silenced the three major armed robbery syndicates that have been terrorising the region, which forced some banks, especially in Ogun and Ondo States, to close operations when the attacks was becoming unbearable. During one of the arrests, two General Purpose Machine Guns, nine AK47 riffles and one rocket launcher were recovered from the robbers’ hideout. Over 225 Ak47 magazines, all fully loaded with 30 rounds, and six dynamites were recovered. This was after a tip off from an informant that most of these hoodlums are based in Benin Republic but only operate in Nigeria with their ammunitions hidden somewhere in Lagos State.
Narrating the scenario that led to their arrest, a police source said the SARS men disguised as hardcore businessmen based In Lagos State and they contacted the gangs in Benin Republic. They said they had an N18 million business deal. On hearing this, they were so excited. Four of them came to Lagos for the deal and they were arrested at an eatery in Ojodu area of Lagos State. Those arrested were then made to reveal the hideout of the gang. They confessed during interrogation that their ammunition supplier, an Igbo born man, simply identified as Tochwukwu, was also based in Benin Republic. Weeks later, our source said Tochwukwu was arrested in Onisha, Anambra State. Tochukwu confessed to the police that he deals in importation of sophisticated weapons for a living. He said: “AK47 goes for N450,000. Rocket launcher sells for N2.5 million while General Purpose Machine Gun is sold for N1.8 million.
Another gang, led by one Ejike, who specialises in stalking bank customers, raping women and carting away their valuable goods in the Lekki-Ajah axis of Lagos State have been also brought to book. The cruel bandits, who were also fond of killing policemen around the Lagos metropolis during any of their operations, was the same gang that robbed some major Bureau De Change in a bloody operation that has been tagged Black Sunday. Policemen and some of the Bureau De Change operators were killed during the operation.
Abba Kyari appears natural. He has a nose that can pick up the faintest scent of robbers in their den. And he is equally so sure footed he gets hot on their heels easily, dogging them until he sniffs them out from their hideout. With about 25 years ahead of Kyari in the service, the Nigeria Police has enough time to make use of him.
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