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On Monday, February 21, 2022, Cynthia Ikena, the lawyer to the embattled Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari told Justice Inyang Ekwo of a Federal High Court in Abuja that the disgraced police officer is a diabetic and hypertensive patient.
The lawyer made this known while praying the court to release his client on bail.
Kyari is a celebrity police officer, who rose to stardom as a result of brilliant performances credited to his name.
Before he soiled his name in scandals antithetical to his profession, the ‘super cop’ had gone after notorious and billionaire kidnappers and terrorists like Chukwudumeme Onwaumadike aka Evans, Henry Chibueze aka Vampire, wanted Boko-Haram Commander Umar Abdulmalik and brought them before the court.
But following the recent allegations linking him to internet fraudsters and drug dealers, the erstwhile celebrated cop is now standing trial over the allegations leveled against him by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
Kyari has been in the news for the wrong reasons since July 2021, when the Government of the United States named him in a fraud deal involving Instagram Celebrity, Ramon Olorunwa aka Hushpuppi.
With all the information made available about Kyari since his trouble started, it took his prosecution to reveal that the most decorated officer in the history of the Nigerian Police Force is diabetic and hypertensive.
While this claim may be true, it is also a familiar script that usually plays out when a court case on corruption involves prominent names.
Kyari has towed the line of other politically exposed persons who had used their predicament to reveal to Nigerians their health status, and most likely won’t be the last to announce a ‘sudden’ ailment amid prosecution.
Below are five prominent politicians who have also taken their ailments to court to seek bail during prosecution.
Olisa Metuh
While standing trial for an alleged N400 million fraud and money laundering, former spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olisa Metuh was expected to appear before Justice Akon Abang to defend the allegations against him, but to everyone’s surprise, Metuh was brought into the courtroom on a stretcher in February 2018.
Metuh’s lawyer Emeka Etiaba had informed the court in January that his client was on admission at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital for an undisclosed ailment.
Abdulrasheed Maina
In November 2019, the former chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), Abdulrasheed Maina appeared for his trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja sitting in a wheelchair.
His trial had earlier stalled due to his reported ill health.
But when he eventually appeared in court, Maina, who was being prosecuted by the EFCC on a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering, operating fictitious accounts and other fraudulent activities was wheeled into the courtroom by two prison wardens.
Haliru Bello
Abdurasheed Maina probably got the wheelchair script from former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Haliru Bello, who in 2015 appeared before the Federal High Court, Abuja, sitting in a wheelchair.
The EFCC had filed a four-count charge of money laundering against the politician for his alleged role in the diversion of funds meant for the procurement of arms in the office of the National Security Adviser.
Dino Melaye
Senator Dino Melaye , who represented Kogi West in the eighth assembly has over the years cut a figure that is more associated with drama and controversy than lawmaking and politics.
In January 2019, the former lawmaker refused to surrender to the police following an allegation that he shot and almost killed a police officer at a checkpoint in Kogi, on July 19, 2018.
After holing up in his apartment in Abuja for days, the controversial senator surrendered to the police on January 4, 2019. But in a bid to avoid trial, Melaye developed an ailment to perpetually keep himself in ‘sick bed’.
The Police medical team had to give him a clean bill of health and then transferred him from an Abuja hospital to the DSS medical facility.
On getting to the DSS hospital, the ‘ailing’ Melaye refused to enter the main building of the centre. The viral photos of Melaye sleeping on the floor within the premises of the DSS hospital painted a picture of a man who relishes being at the centre of controversies.
In September, when the court resumed his criminal trial, the ex-Kogi West senator showed up like a stroke patient. He was assisted into the courtroom by two aides, who told the court that the senator could not walk.
Femi Fani-Kayode
In 2016, when former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode was standing trial for allegedly receiving illicit funds from a former National Security Adviser, the ex-minister ‘slumped’ while in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Fani-Kayode’s spokesperson, Jude Ndukwe told journalists that the situation could have been different but for the professional intervention of the medical team in the EFCC medical facilities.
He blamed the EFCC for arresting his principal despite knowing his health condition, saying Fani-Kayode was yet to complete the recovery therapy when he was arrested.