The Federal High Court in Abuja has foreclosed the testimony of the second defence witness in the trial of suspended Deputy Commissioner of Police Abba Kyari and four other police officers over an alleged cocaine deal, following the witness’s persistent absence from proceedings.
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Justice Emeka Nwite made the ruling on Wednesday after prosecution counsel, Joseph Sunday, applied orally for the court to foreclose the witness’s evidence.
Sunday, who is prosecuting the case on behalf of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), challenged a letter submitted by the witness explaining that ill health prevented him from attending court.
He argued that the letter neither disclosed the nature of the illness nor identified the hospital where the witness was receiving treatment. He consequently urged the court to attach no probative value to the letter and foreclose the testimony.
The ruling followed an earlier warning issued by Justice Nwite on Monday that the witness’s evidence would be foreclosed if he failed to appear on Wednesday.
The judge had also directed counsel representing the first to fifth defendants to submit the names of the witnesses they intended to call.
Kyari, a former head of the police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), is standing trial alongside ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu, who are listed as the second to fifth defendants respectively.
The NDLEA accused the officers of tampering with cocaine recovered from two arrested drug traffickers at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu. Kyari and the four officers pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The two traffickers, Chibunna Umeibe and Emeka Ezenwanne, originally listed as the sixth and seventh defendants in the eight-count charge, pleaded guilty to the counts against them and were subsequently convicted.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Julius Mba, counsel to Kyari and Agirgba, informed the court that a subpoena had been served on the NDLEA requesting the list of its officers who were on duty at the Enugu airport on January 19, 2022, the date of the alleged incident.
Mba said obtaining the list would help the defence determine its next steps in the proceedings.
Responding, Sunday challenged the subpoena because it was addressed to the agency’s Director-General, a position he said did not exist within the NDLEA.
He explained that the agency had a Chairman/Chief Executive Officer and an Agency Secretary, rather than a Director-General.
Despite the objection, the prosecution counsel undertook that an NDLEA officer would produce the requested list in court on Thursday.
Justice Nwite consequently adjourned the matter until Thursday, October 8, 2026, for continuation of the trial.
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