On the 6th of this month, August the news of army personnel attacked Nigeria Police men and released a kidnap kingpin enroute to Jalingo became a national issue with extreme shock in the minds of Nigerians. The information of the event engulfed me with so much tentacles of how on earth such kind of tragedy happened?
I couldn’t believe my heart that had been throbbing to convince me that such incidents in Nigeria do happen and I should believe the allegation of the Police Headquarter pointing fingers at the Nigerian Army because there were many reports on different Nigerian newspapers about the mischievous acts of our security personnel.
The Police Spokesman, Frank Mba confirmed that Police officers on their way with a suspected kidnapper to Taraba State were attacked by Army personnel in which three Police officers and one civilian lost their lives.
But, at first Nigerian Army began to retort back to Nigeria Police and the whole event were becoming cloudy when the freed kidnap kingpin was rearrested on the19th August 2019 at Layin Mai Allo in Hotoro area of Kano State.
Alhaji Wadume explained in a video clip that went viral that Army men were responsible of killing three Police men and one civilian on their way to Taraba State.He confessed that Nigerian army officers assisted his escaped from the Police Intelligence Response Team. Wadume, added, that the soldiers of the 93 Battalion, Takum, Taraba State took him to their office and invited a welder to remove his handcuff and freed him.
During the interrogations of Wadume in Police Headquarters, Abuja the Police learnt that between July 9, 2019 and August 6, 2019 he had 191 phone conversations with Tijjani Balarabe, a captain officer, and the Army Headquarters had explained that the accused Captain in particular and other five Army personnel are currently undergoing interrogations.
Surprisingly, Wadume began to deny his involvement as a kidnapper claiming to be a fisherman and a 419 person that became millionaire from fetish tricks. This should be taken with a pinch of salt for the fact that Wadume has been accused of being a notorious kidnapper in Northern Central of Nigeria. He had been accused of kidnapping an oil dealer who was later released after the payment of N100 million ransom. However, Alhaji Wadume told the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammad Adamu during interrogation that he had cordial relationship with other security agencies to smooth his dreadful business and his release by a top military officer is a testimony to the confession that he has no door to escape.
It is said that Hamisu Wadume was a philanthropic kidnapper that gave much of his share to the people. Shockingly, the people of his Local Government were not happy with his arrest, as they complained his arrest will stop the work of completing the mosque that he is building for them.
Though, this is not the first event in which Army officials are arrested for mischievous acts because on May 26, 2019. The police in Anambra State arrested a Lance corporal, Ojiegbe Obinna in military uniform for alleged kidnapping. Meanwhile, on May 22nd, 2019 the police in Borno paraded four soldiers of the Nigerian Army for alleged armed robbery.
These incidents are indicating that there are bad eggs in our security circles among the people who suppose to protect us but turned to be nuisance because of greediness.
Nigerian forces should take a good lesson from the incident of Alhaji Hamisu Wadume and serve as eye opener for them to identify the bad eggs in their mists to sanitize the Nigerian security forces.
However, the Nigerian Army is doing great work in terms of recruiting its personnel but it is advisable to redouble its effort of identifying good people with mind set that are free from corruption and most especially that have respect for human rights and the laws of their engagements.
At, this time all Nigerians eyes are now on this fracas between the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Police Force to see the last verdict of the tussle. Though, President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the Nigerian forces most especially the authorities concerned to calm down and let the law to fish out the perpetrators that slew three policemen and one civilian in the process of freeing Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume.
Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim
Public Analyst,
[email protected]