‘I watched how they killed my colleagues in execution style…’

BY OUR EDITOR

But for the grace of God, he would have been shot alongside three of his colleagues who were murdered by soldiers of the 93 Battalion, in Takum, Taraba State, last week, while on national assignment.

The operative, a police inspector, who is currently nursing a gunshot wound he sustained in the attack, stated that one of the soldiers suggested that he should also be shot dead in order to truncate any evidence against them.

However, according to VANGUARD report, a counter order from one of the senior officers and the presence of villagers at the scene saved him from being killed.

In a startling revelation of how operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) were attacked by soldiers while taking a suspected kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, to Jalingo, capital of Taraba State, have emerged.

“My escape from death was God’s divine intervention,” he began as he gave a blow-by-blow account of how he escaped death by the whiskers.

He continued: “We had succeeded in arresting the kidnap kingpin. His legs and hands were cuffed and we put him in our vehicle as we drove off.

‘’We passed the first and second check points successfully. Besides, when going, we greeted the soldiers at the check points and even offered one of them doughnut.

“But when we got to the third check point, we discovered that a military Hilux van was following us. We were not driving fast; we were even waiting for them to overtake us when all of a sudden, they opened fire on our vehicle.

“In the process, the vehicle somersaulted, a bullet hit me in the leg. But I struggled to run into the bush with some of my colleagues. From a distance, I watched how they (soldiers) killed my colleagues in execution style, even when they explained that they were policemen.

“Thereafter, one of them said they should comb the bush for those that ran inside. I crawled in pains, and tried to hide but they caught up with me. One of them said they should shoot me dead, that if they left me alive, I would speak out.

‘’But a Lieutenant among them said they should take me to the hospital. I commend him because but for his counter order, I would have been killed as well.

“By then, villagers had come out and started videoing the process. One of them even said it would be unwise to kill me since the villagers were also videoing the scene with their phones.

“I also saw when the soldiers carried the arrested (kidnap) suspect into their Hilux van and drove off.”

It was learnt that the three slain policemen Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeant Dahiru Musa and Sergeant Usman Danzumi, were said to be part of the team that arrested kidnap kingpin, Evans. The deceased gallant officers also participated actively in the arrest of Umar Abdulmalik, who was the overall Boko Haram commander for the North-Central, and several of his group members.

Meanwhile, residents of Ibi Local Government, where the policemen were killed, have remained gripped by fear for their safety. The man at the centre of the controversy, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, who is believed to be a notorious kidnapper, hails from the area.

Consequently, many of the residents have continued to flee their homes following the presence of members of the police investigative team from Abuja and the massive arrest of suspected persons. The people are also afraid of possible reprisal attack by the kidnap kingpin and his gang members who are allegedly on the run.

The residents, who had earlier rolled out drums and engaged in celebration when the news of the arrest of Wadume went on air, said their joy was cut short by his alleged escape.

Some of the residents, who would not want their names in print, confirmed that they were fleeing “because we have the feeling that Wadume and his colleagues who are now on the run might launch an attack on us in revenge of the humiliation he went through at the hands of the police.”