 Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kiari. We have to step aside as the police investigates the accusation of bribery leveled against him. Kiari has been suspended by the Police Service Commission on the recommendation of the Inspector General of Police. The recommendation and suspension follows the indictment by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for Bribery. A document released by the FBI indicates Kiari received money from Abbas Ramon, also known as Hush Puppy, who has pleaded guilty to fraud in the United States. Hush Puppy testified it was a bribe, but Kiari claims no money was paid directly to him. He also says the money sent by Hush Puppy wasn't a bribe. But joining us live now is the Chairman of Coalition against corrupt leaders, Debo Adeniro. Good evening, Mr. Adeniro. Good evening, Maureen. Yeah, you go again. Our organization is no longer a coalition against corrupt leaders. Oh, what is it now? Center for anti-corruption and no pun leadership. We corrected it a couple of times on your platform. Oh, well, I have to blame the news producer for that. But thanks for correcting me, now I know. So what are your thoughts on the issues going on right now? Well, thank you very much. Like in every criminal issue, you can't presume that somebody is guilty until it is proven. Conversely, you presume somebody innocent until the contrary is proven. That is on the, that is the platform upon which we are discussing the issue of abacca area. Given the kind of fit he had accomplished over the time, over the years, about two decades, he said. And up to now, nobody has been able to pin him down to any crimes of such, I mean, colluding with criminals to perpetrate their acts. I don't think that we should throw away the baby with the bathwater. First and foremost, we should understand that abacca area is dealing with high-wired criminals that have international connection and they have deep pockets. And criminals generally want to buy anybody that makes himself available over. Caring may be vulnerable to being bought over because he actually have been seen on a couple of occasions fraternizing with people whose sources of wealth is questionable. But nobody has been able to come out frontally to say that they have caught abacca area engaging in all those untowardly activities. So until the FBI are able to prove their case because this is not the first time that FBI will allege and it is not all the time that they win the case against those they allege in courts. So the benefit of the doubt should be on the side of the accused or the side of abacca area in this case. So we believe that he should be given fair hearing and his trial should be open and should be transparent. When this trial is done with and if he's found guilty do you think or should Nigeria hand him over to the U.S. if they want to menstruate it? Of course, if that is what the international treaty mutual legal system treaty that we have with the U.S. indicates then once the internal investigation confirms that he could have soiled his hands in the hands of Ospopi then he should be extradited to go and answer his, I mean for his own activity, criminal activity if it has been found to be so. That was what we said about James Ibori. That was what we said about Alizeh Madweke. A couple of those people who have engaged in international criminal activity if for a good reason we believe Nigeria authorities believe that they could have perpetrated the criminal activity that they are alleged of. Of course, they should be ready to answer. Anybody that could commit a crime should be ready to serve the terms. There have been complaints of corruption against the Nigerian police, but this kind of takes you to a whole new level seeing he's one of our most decorated officers as you have earlier alluded. Don't you think? Well, that somebody has been well decorated doesn't mean that he cannot change. Doesn't mean that he cannot become attracted to criminal activity. It could happen. For example, the former anti-corruption, I forgot his name now, in the House of Rep, you know who was caught in the sting operation had been found guilty by the court of law. He for so long was not found guilty, I mean was not caught committing corruption crimes. So somehow human being human being we can change at any time. But then we should also realize that the those who are cracking corruption crimes are endangered species. You know, the criminals are actually looking for them, looking for any way possible to silence them. If they cannot eliminate them, they want to diminish their integrity and they want to give a dog a bad name with a view to get it earned. That was what has happened to everybody that has cracked some of this criminal activity. Remember what happened to Nuhu Ribaddu? He was removed against his will, was sent to Kuru for further studies. Madame Farida Wajiri was also embalased, Ibrahim Lamodeh at the AFCC. All of them were embalased, including Ibrahim Magu, who was the, who was still, in fact, he's still the acting chairman of AFCC because he was not officially removed before the present abrasion was brought to office. So nobody, up to now, I'm not sure that anybody has proven any allegation against him successfully. So this should not be unexpected. When people are fighting crimes, crime do fight back. Abakiyari has fought, you know, very daring criminals and he has brought down so many of them that are either to consider to be invincible. Now that he has been, maybe he has been engaged or he has been snored and he has walked himself into the hand of those who do not want him to succeed or to continue to enjoy the euphoria of good deed that everybody is according him with. So he has made some fundamental mistake. For example, it didn't have to have any dealing with somebody like Hosh Popli whose criminal record is glaring to everybody. It didn't have to be at that funeral ceremony in the, what's the name of this, by Kubana. No, it didn't have to be around those places except otherwise he is part of his, I mean, he's using such association as part of means of getting to the bottom of certain criminal activity. But then he needs to prove that that he was dealing with Hosh Popli and those other people with uncertain sources of wealth, you know, because he wanted to get at some of the criminal investigation. OK, Mr. Daniel, because of time, I'd like to have to ask you this final question. Now, Judge Otis writes permission for the FBI to arrest Mr. Kieran, and hold him in the U.S. custody. It's coming at a very sensitive time, you know, for us in Nigeria here. Because just in recent times, we have seen the arrest of Namedi Kahnu from Kenya and then that of Sunday Bohu, Pena Republic and Nigeria seeking to extradite him. So Nigerians of the world are watching to see how the Nigerian government will handle this, right? This puts Nigeria at the center stage sort of. Exactly. The truth is that all of those who do not want law enforcement agencies in Nigeria to succeed are also working towards bringing down the integrity of those who have exposed them or handed them over to the authorities. And that might not be what is happening to Abakaiyari and a few others. Everybody that has distinguished himself in the line of law enforcement has been faced with one trauma, I mean, embarrassment or the other. And that should not be clouded our sense of judgment. We should not throw away the baby with the bathwater. It has happened to certain people in the past because somebody said that we should also be circumspect when we consider the report of FBI. The criminals are also not sleeping. They may be working with some elements within the FBI. Nigerian authorities should also be open-minded. They should do thorough investigation. They should be sure that there are enough witnesses, enough pieces of evidence and enough grants to toy with the integrity of somebody otherwise no people of integrity will want to work at the level of law enforcement agency in Nigeria because they will be afraid that when they are embalmed or when criminals fight them back that the Nigerian people and Nigerian state may not be there for them. And that will not be good a record for us to beat on because Nigeria has been seen as a kind of home country of corruption. And in our beat to clean ourselves or search a kind of a stain, we need to do everything to protect those officers who have distinguished themselves in the face of... This is a good place to stop this interview. I wish you had more time. Thank you so much, Mr. Debo. And good luck with your fight against corruption. Thank you very much. We tried. We tried our best. We have been hunted. That's what we saw. All right. All the best. Hello. Hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.