The Nigeria Police has faulted claims by the Nigerian Army over the death of three policemen and one civilian in Taraba State.
The policemen from Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Force were said to be on investigation to Ibi in Taraba State when they came under attack by the soldiers.
The operatives were in Taraba Stateto arrest one Alhaji Hamisu, who was indicted in a series of high-profile kidnap incidents in the state.
The Army, in reaction to the statement said the soldiers mistook the policemen for kidnappers.
In reaction to the claim by the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police, yesterday, in a statement by the Force Spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, demanded the whereabouts of the kidnap suspect that was freed by the Army.
The Force also said it is insensitive, disrespectful and unpatriotic for the Army to continue to describe policemen on lawful national assignment as ‘suspected kidnappers”.
The police, in a statement titled; “Setting the Record Straight – where is the ‘rescued’ notorious kidnapper, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume?”, pointed out some of the loopholes in the statement issued by the Army.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to the Press Release by the Nigerian Army dated 07 August, 2019, seeking to justify the unprovoked and unwarranted murder of three police officers and one civilian, and serious injury to other operatives, who were on legitimate criminal investigation activities to Taraba State, to arrest one Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume indicted in a series of high-profile kidnap incidents in the state.
“In the best tradition of Esprit de Corps, inter-agency harmony and national Interest, the Nigeria Police Force would naturally have kept quiet, but it has become imperative to set the record straight by addressing the obvious distortion of facts inherent in the press release by the Nigerian Army.
“The most important question arising from the Nigerian Army press release is: Where is Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume? Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume is a millionaire kidnapper arrested by the police but paradoxically treated as a ‘‘kidnap victim’’ by the soldiers and subsequently ‘rescued’ by them. Where is he? Where is the rescued kidnapper?
“Secondly, the press release was silent on the source of the alleged distress report or identity of the complainant, on the strength of whose report, the Army claimed had informed their decision to engage in the purported chase and rescue operation.
“Needless to state that in the true spirit of transparency and accountability, the Nigerian Army ought to have arrested the purported distress caller – if any – for obviously and deliberately furnishing them with false and misleading information. Besides, such arrest should in fact be made public!
It continues: “Thirdly, it is not true that the policemen failed to identify themselves as alleged in the press release. The video on the incident, now viral, wherein the voice of one of the soldiers was heard loudly proclaiming that the policemen were from the Force Headquarters, Abuja speaks volume.
“Besides, the presence of the IRT personnel was well known to the Taraba Police Command as the operatives officially and properly documented not only at the State Command Headquarters but also at the Wukari Area Command and the Ibi Divisional Headquarters. As a matter of fact, some of the Detectives from the Taraba State Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were part of the operation.
“The Force also considers it insensitive, disrespectful and unpatriotic for the press release by the Army to continue to describe policemen on lawful national assignment as ‘suspected kidnappers’ long after it had become crystal clear to the Army that these are law enforcement officers who unfortunately were gruesomely murdered in the line of duty by Nigerian soldiers attached to 93 Battalion, Takum.”
According to Mba, some of the questions begging for answers are; “In the final analysis, we leave the Nigerian Army authorities to provide Nigerians with answers on the following questions emanating from their press release; Where is the notorious kidnapper, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume ‘rescued’ by the soldiers, how and why was Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume released by the soldiers and how could a kidnap suspect properly restrained with handcuffs by the Police escape from the hands of his military rescuers?.
Other questions are: “If Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume is a ‘‘victim of kidnap’’ as claimed, and properly rescued by soldiers, why was he not taken to the Army Base for documentation purposes and debriefing in line with the Standard Operating Procedure in the Nigerian Army? Why were the police operatives shot at close range even after they had identified themselves as police officers on legitimate duty as evident in the video now in circulation?”
However, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Defence Headquarters to take over the investigation of the killing of three police operatives and a civilian and the freeing of a kidnap kingpin by troops of 93 Battalion, Takum, Taraba.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, disclosed this when he briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the National Security Council, with Buhari presiding, at the State House, Abuja, yesterday.
The Army and Police authorities had, last Wednesday, constituted a Joint Investigation Panel to investigate the incident. It now means that Buhari’s directive has rendered the panel useless.
The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sagir Musa, in a statement, said the panel would be headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Criminal Investigation Department, DIG Mike Ogbizi.
Musa said that the panel would jointly investigate and report on the true circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incident to avert future occurrences.
He said the soldiers shot at the police vehicle because they thought they were kidnappers.
He, however, did not explain why the soldiers released the handcuffed real kidnapper, one Alhaji Hamisu
The Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, had last Wednesday, said that the Police Operatives, led by ASP Felix Adolije of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) reportedly came under sudden attack by soldiers along Ibi–Jalingo Road.
Mba said that the operatives, who were taking the arrested suspect, Alhaji Hamisu to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo, were shot at by the soldiers in spite of sufficient proof that they were police personnel on legitimate duty.
He said that three policemen comprising one Inspector and two sergeants and one civilian died as a result of gunshot injuries sustained in the attack while others sustained serious gunshot wounds.
According to him, the soldiers thereafter released the handcuffed suspect, Alhaji Hamisu, who is now on the run.
However, the Chief of Air Marshal said: “The council also decided that the unfortunate incidents in Taraba State in Ibi, a committee will be setup under the Defence Headquarters to critically look into the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident.’’
Abubakar also revealed that the council evaluated the current strategy of managing internal security operations across the country.
According to him, the council expressed satisfaction with the current efforts aimed at restoring law and order in the country.
“We are making substantial progress in all the areas of conflicts,’’ he said.
On the issue of using technology and drones to fight crimes as earlier pledged to the South-West leaders by the President, Abubakar said technology would continue to play a very critical role in resolving security challenges in the country.
“All the services are using one technology or the other in order to ensure that our country is secured.
“So, security will continue to play a role and we are also looking at other areas of technology that are not currently in use to ensure that we put together all that is required to ensure the security of Nigeria and Nigerians,’’ he added.