By Oguwike Nwachuku
A press statement on Wednesday, August 7 from Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), put a proper handle on the killings in Taraba where three policemen and some civilians were murdered by soldiers.
The story was initially discussed in hush tones that troops of 93 Battalion, Takum, Taraba State, opened fire on a 10-man police team which resulted in the death of an inspector, two sergeants and some civilians.
By August 8, it emerged that two other civilians wounded by gunshots had also died, bringing the death toll to six.
Before Mba’s statement, it was not very clear if the soldiers actually committed the crime as alleged, going by reports on social media.
However, the statement fully reproduced here sorted out all the doubts.
Mba wrote: “The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has ordered full-fledged investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of three (3) police operatives and one (1) civilian, and serious injury to other police operatives, who were on investigation activities to Ibi, Taraba State, to arrest one Alhaji Hamisu indicted in a series of high-profile kidnap incidents in the state.
“The police operatives, led by ASP Felix Adolije of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), reportedly came under sudden attack and serious shooting by soldiers of the Nigerian Army, along Ibi–Jalingo Road, Taraba State.
“The operatives, who were taking the arrested suspect, Alhaji Hamisu, to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo, were shot at severally by the soldiers despite sufficient proof that they are police personnel on legitimate duty.
“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. The soldiers thereafter released the handcuffed suspect, Alhaji Hamisu, who is now on the run.
“Alhaji Hamisu, a notorious kidnap kingpin, has been on the police wanted list for his complicity in several high-profile kidnap cases, including the recent abduction of an oil-mogul in Taraba State, wherein a ransom of about one hundred million naira (N100,000,000) was paid.
“The IGP has ordered the AIG Medicals to proceed to Jalingo to ensure concerted efforts in the treatment of the injured police officers. The remains of the deceased have been deposited in the morgue.
“Meanwhile, the Force has commenced full investigation into the bizarre and unfortunate incident.”
On August 8, President Muhammadu Buhari directed Defence Headquarters to carry out a comprehensive probe of the incident.
Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, relayed the directive to reporters at the end of a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) in Abuja, chaired by Buhari.
A day earlier (August 7), the army and the police had announced that they had constituted a joint investigation panel to investigate the incident.
Col. Sagir Musa, acting Director of Army Public Relations, said in a statement the panel would be headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Mike Ogbizi.
Musa talked about the panel “investigating and reporting” on the “true circumstances surrounding the unfortunate incidence in order to avert future occurrences.”
Abubakar only corroborated Musa’s announcement.
“The council also decided that on the unfortunate incidents in Taraba State, in Ibi, a committee will be set up under the Defence Headquarters to critically look into the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident,” Abubakar added.
The DHQ panel is headed by Rear Admiral I.T. Olaiya and has a representatives each from the army, navy, air force, police, Department of State Services (DSS) and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA).
Abubakar had reassured that the security agencies would continue to ensure the security of Nigerians and that no individual or group undermines the territorial integrity of the country.
Regardless of the joint effort by the police and the army to get to the root of the incident, feelers from both institutions are unfortunate and betray any sense of commitment to a collective fight against insecurity.
Take for instance the war of words between the police and the army which indicates the fact that there is no love lost between the two institutions.
Police high command has accused the army of disrespectful and unpatriotic conduct for saying the killed cops were suspected kidnappers.
Mba wrote: “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.
“The most important question arising from the Nigerian Army press release is: Where is Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume? [He] 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?
“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 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 volumes.
“Besides, the presence of the police 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 Taraba State Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were part of the operation.”
From the mutual distrust between the two very important government institutions, it is really difficult to interrogate the circumstances of the killings.
The first difficulty is that both the army and the police, regardless of the joint effort at probing the incident, seem to be economical with the true picture of what they know about the killings.
How possible it was for Wadume to escape with handcuffs on his hands and legs?
The fact that he escaped from the scene, as claimed, means that someone may have unlocked the handcuffs making it possible for him to escape when the shooting took place.
Wadume’s escape brings us to the role of the leader of the team, Adolije.
Depending on the arrangement while Wadume was being moved to the Taraba police command and later to Abuja, it is expected that the key of the handcuffs should have been with Adolije for safe keeping. We need to know if that was the case.
Another scenario that would have led to the escape of Wadume was if there was prior arrangement with the army to get ready to facilitate his escape, in which case there would have been a vehicle on standby to whisk him away.
Someone joked that the slain policemen looked too good and well fed that they may have got used to going after kidnappers where huge sums of money are paid as ransom.
The investigation should examine the possibility of a deal gone awry if the money Wadume got from kidnapping coupled with the fact that in most cases mediators are introduced in the mode of payment of ransom is anything to go by.
Since the police said the visit to arrest Wadume was documented with the Taraba State Police Command and that some of the policemen from the command were part of the operation, the state commissioner of police ought to also shed light on the character of his men who were part of the exercise with regard to information management and dissemination.
The more posers emanate from the manner the cops were killed, the more scared one gets about the character of those entrusted with the security of lives and property of Nigerians – the army and the police in particular.
What the police and the army have demonstrated is not just that there is no love lost between them but that they lack the capacity to work together for public good.
When the army blame the problem on communication deficit, one shudders because year in and out those are the stories that issue from both security outfits.
Why should there be communication problem if espirit de corps is fully observed? Communication deficit occurs only where there is conflict of interest which could be business interest, leadership interest, personal interest and what have you.
The recourse to communication deficit by the army as an excuse is so unfortunate a tale from an institution that prides itself as disciplined, and tells a lot about how Nigerians have been made too vulnerable by security institutions.
The impression one gets is that it is either there is a deliberate ploy to frustrate the system or some people are feeding from such circumstances knowing that whatever happens would end up in investigation and innocent ones sacrificed as scapegoats.
Does it not beat the imagination that a kidnap kingpin who has been on the Taraba state security radar and on the wanted list of the police would not be common knowledge to all security agencies to enable them work as a team to arrest him?
In every security operation there is always a rule of engagement.
Both the army and the police have their different operational and training manuals that guide their performance.
Why then do security operatives in our own clime relish in shooting at the slightest impulse without recourse to their rule of engagement?
That we have several improperly trained trigger-happy and arms-welding security operatives all over Nigeria speaks volume about the quality of the leadership of such security agencies.
Time and again the army and police claim to be involved in joint security operations but it does seem that the level of indiscretion as regards whether the police should be the leader of the team or the army in a democracy continues to occur.
In places where democracy is in practice, the right thing is for the police to preside over all operations or roadblocks if they are in joint operation with other agencies.
But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case because the army has got so enmeshed in politics and civil lifestyle – in bars, eateries, and clubs – that their personnel compete with the police as regards who ought to be seen more often with the civilian populace because of the criminal tendencies that come with doing so.
What a shame!
The Taraba killings should indeed be a test case for the leadership of the IGP and should task the will of Buhari at sanitising the years of ego trip that make police/army relations counter-productive to effective security.
Rather than a joint police/army investigation, the government should have considered an independent judicial commission/panel of inquiry with wide ranging powers to unravel what really happened and mete out justice accordingly.
Feelers from the investigating panels with all the trending claims and counterclaims suggest a process that may have already been dented, particularly as both institutions are more concerned about protecting their own personnel and their image than getting to the root of the matter.
We are talking about lives of policemen trained who have distinguished themselves in the arrest of the kidnappers of the Chibok girls, arrest of Evans, the kidnapper based in Lagos and the rescue of the Magajin Garin Daura, the head of Buhari’s village.
If they (Inspector Mark Edaile, from Edo State; Sergeant Usman Danzumi and Sergeant Dahiru Musa both of whom are from Taraba State) were lay-abouts in the police, they would not be in the IGP team.
Hence their involvement in the Wadume case which they had successfully investigated, tracked him down, and looking forward to his prosecution.
What about the civilian informants on police pay roll for intelligence who were also murdered?
Kidnapping has become another cash cow and attractive business for criminals, including security agents and their surrogates.
It is fast gaining momentum as a source of livelihood to some security chiefs who, as the Buhari government made us understand recently, pocketed funds meant for weapons to fight insurgents when Boko haram was wreaking havoc a few years back.
If some army chiefs found it expedient to deploy resources meant for the purchase of arms to fight insurgence for personal use, is it to commit to reckless shooting to protect their selfish interest in kidnap cases they would treat with levity?
The need for a judiciary commission of inquiry has become imperative if at all we are interested in not seeing a repeat of what happened in Taraba.
But more importantly, Nigerians cannot accept anything short of the result of an investigation that will unravel the actors either within the army or police or outside who were instrumental to this infamy and ensure they are brought to justice. Nobody should be treated as being above the law.
