Hopes of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police DCP Abba Kyari getting bail from detention on health grounds has been dashed.
A Federal High Court where he applied for bail on health condition has said it would not be possible since there is a subsisting court order to prolong his detention.
Kyari is being investigated by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) after he was caught in a sting operation negotiating bribe over a drug deal.
The embattled cop requested for the bail after raising the alarm over his health malady but the presiding judge Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja ordered the NDLEA to allow Kyari access to medical attention.
Justice Inyang Ekwo handed out the order on Monday while ruling on an application for bail Kyari filed.
Justice Ekwo said Kyari’s request for bail was overtaken by events in view of an earlier order by another judge of the same Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Zainab Abubakar, granting the NDLEA permission to detain the suspended police officer for 14 days in the first instance.
The judge said since a court of coordinate jurisdiction has ordered Kyari’s detention, he could no longer decide otherwise.
His words; “The only order I can make in addition to what I have said is that the respondent shall allow the applicant to his prescribed and verified medication while in custody”.
The judge then adjourned till March 15 for hearing of Kyari’s fundamental rights enforcement suit, in which he is among others, challenging his detention and seeking monetary compensation.
Justice Ekwo held that the sister court, which gave the order in favour of NDLEA on Feb. 22, was a court of coordinate jurisdiction.
The judge, however, said he was inclined to hear Kyari’s fundamental enforcement rights suit with the urgency it deserves after the expiration of the 14-day court order.
He said that the application for bail, under the provisions of the constitution, was to be treated with urgency.
Ekwo, who said that Kyari’s bail application was brought on Feb. 21, said he had perused the process, the averments in support and the documentary evidence.
“The respondent (NDLEA) has filed a counter and I have perused the averments.
“I find in paragraph 11 of the counter affidavit that this court has made an order concerning the applicant on February 22, 2022, as Exhibit NDLEA 4,” he said.
He said he found that the sister court granted the NDLEA’s prayer to have Kyari in custody for 14 days pending its investigation.
“This order is an order of court of coordinate jurisdiction.
“This court is not likely to make an order contrary to that.
“This motion for bail, by that order, has been overtaken by events by the order,” he ruled
The judge, who ordered the NDLEA to allow Kyari have access to a verified medical personnel and medication of his choice, said “upon refusal of the bail application, the substantive suit before the court must be treated with urgency.”
He then adjourned until March 15 to hear Kyari’s application to demand for his fundamental right enforcement.