‘I’m a political thug, not a kidnapper…’

 

• Taraba kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Balla, reveals how APC paid him N13 million
• How he got N6 million from a sitting governor
• How soldiers came after him after the murder of policemen

 

BY OUR EDITOR

Alhaji Hamisu Balla, a.k.a. Wadume, the alleged kidnap kingpin whose arrest by the police in Taraba State led to the slaughtering of three policemen and two civilians on covert operations, by soldiers on the order of an army captain, has continued to speak out loudly.

Balla, who claims he is 33 years old, has virtually confirmed reports that the police operatives who were members of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the two civilians who served as their guide may have been murdered by compromised security agents.

In an exclusive interview with SATURDAY VANGUARD, he denied being a kidnapper but agreed he has strong relationship with kidnappers, saying that he supplied them with arms.

He described himself as a fish farmer, transport business owner and a political thug.

“I am not a kidnapper, but I have sold arms to several kidnappers. I am a fish farmer, I own fish ponds, I own a transport business. I am equally a political thug,” he said by way of introduction.

While giving a riveting account of his encounter with both the police and his army Captain friend in charge of the 93 Battalion, Wukari, who aided his escape after his initial arrest by the police, Balla expressed shock at the manner the soldiers opened fire on the Toyota Hiace bus that was conveying him and the policemen to the Taraba Police Command Headquarters in Jalingo.

He said while he also sustained bullet wounds on his right thigh after the shootings, he never asked the army captain to rescue him from the policemen who arrested him.

According to him, as at the time he crawled out of the bullet ridden bus, which somersaulted three times before landing into the bush, the policemen were still alive, but he was surprised to see the soldiers who had pursued them to the check-point raining bullets on the policemen before he was whisked in a red coloured car, to the home of the army captain.

He added that after his leg chain and handcuffs were cut off by a welder invited by the army captain, he was greeted by a large crowd of residents of Ibi who were standing beside the corpses of the deceased policemen who were all brought to the home of the army captain.

With the sum of N550,000 in his pocket after he was rescued, Wadume said he fled Ibi Town and was hiding in the house of one of his friends, Meito, at Ungwachiki town but 24 hours, later some soldiers trailed him to his friend’s house and wanted to kill him.

He said he jumped out of the window and fled to the river bank, boarded a speed boat into Tunga area of Nassarawa State, where he spent a night before moving to the home of his maternal uncle in Kano State.

Balla’s account as published by SATURDAY VANGUARD reads:

“My name is Hamisu Balla, alias Wadume, 33 years old and I am from Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State. I am married to four wives and I have four children.

“I attended Bula Primary school Ibi, but I dropped out from Government Secondary School Ibi at JSS 3. After I dropped out school, I started fishing business at the River Benue that flowed through Ibi Town, this was in 1996 and I did fishing for six years, but in the year 2002, I went into fishpond business.

“I used to buy fingerlings for N30 per one, nurture them for five months before selling them for N600 and N700. I started small with just two small ponds but I went on to get five more big ponds with 50 by 50 in size and five feet deep.

“I am not a kidnapper, but I have sold arms to several kidnappers. I am a fish farmer, I own fish ponds, I own a transport business. I am equally a political thug. I went into crime when some politicians came for me, they approached me through one Babangida Musa, who was also into fishing business. I got N6m from a sitting governor, N13m from APC, defrauded civil servant of N30m.

“In June 2018, I deceived a lot of politicians who were vying for political offices that I had spiritual powers to enable them win their elections. I defrauded the governor when he came to Ibi and met the youths in my town.

“As the leader of the youths, the Governor met me and I promised to work for him and to also consult some Mallams who would pray for his success. The Governor gave me N2 million at first and we exchanged telephone numbers. But one week before the election, the governor called me and asked me to come to the Government house and when I got there the governor gave me N4 million cash to continue with the prayers. Immediately after the election, the governor called to thank me.

“I was also given N13 million by the APC to prosecute the 2019 presidential election, but I spent only seven million. I also defrauded a civil servant from Ibi of N30 million.

“I contested the Taraba state house of Assembly under the YDP Ibi Local Government, but I pulled out of the election and took my supporters to the PDP.

“I volunteered to follow the policemen when they came to arrest me at Ibi Town while I was drinking tea with some of my friends. They showed me their identity cards indicating that they were from the office of the Inspector General of Police and I volunteered to follow them, because I knew I could settle any problem I’m confronted with.

“The policemen handcuffed me and leg-chained me while I was inside their vehicle and the Army Captain wasn’t even there when the policemen came to arrest me and I don’t even know who informed him that I had been arrested.

“While I was being taken out of Ibi, Town, the policemen passed the first check point which was being maned by some soldiers after they had identified themselves. They also passed the second check point which was maned by some Mobile Policemen. But when they got to the third one where we were attacked, four of the policemen alighted from their bus and they identified themselves to the policemen and exchanged banters. I was shocked when the soldiers came after us and rained bullets on our bus, killing those policemen. I was almost killed in the encounter.

“I was then taken to the army captain’s house. When I saw the corpses of the policemen and their agents in front of the Captain’s house, I became very disturbed and I pretended as if I wanted to urinate and I escaped from the scene.

“I called one Audu who is one of my boys who took me on his bike to Ungwachiki Town in Ibi Local Government and I passed the night in the house of Meito, my friend. But while I was there some soldiers came to Meito’s house and started looking for me and they were armed with guns and machetes and axes, I believed they wanted to kill me.

“I don’t know how they got information that I was in that house but I managed to escape through the window and fled to the river bank around 8pm where I boarded a speed boat to Tunga village in Nassarawa State.

“I spent a night in Nassarawa State before I boarded another commercial bus to Kano State. People couldn’t recognize me because of the Sallah holiday. I had N500,000 with me as I was running from the police and I took the money to my uncle’s house where I went to hide in Kano. While I was hiding, I instructed one of my bothers in Ibi to go to my house and take away all my rifles. My cousin also brought an idea that I needed some favourable stories to be written about me, so he engaged a PR company who were to link up with journalists to write the stories. I paid N3 million for that.”