There were more revelations on how three police officers attached to the Inspector – General of Police Intelligence Response Team(IRT), was killed by soldiers in Taraba State on August, 6. Cornerstone News authoritatively gathered that the Commanding Officer of 93 Battalion Ibi, Captain Balarabe Tijani, employed the services of a welder in the local community to destroy the hand and leg cuffs on suspected kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Bala Wadume, before setting him free.
The captain who was said to have been interrogated by the panel from Defence Headquarters(DHQ), was said to have contracted a welder to remove the leg and handcuffs from his alleged friend after the divisional police officer(DPO), in charge Ibi command, Aondona Augustine Iorbee, whom he contacted for the keys told him he did not have them. Top police sources said that aside from seeking for the keys from the DPO, Captain Tijani, also contacted the stations Crime Officer, Inspector Aliyu Dadje, who also said he did not have the keys.
According to our sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as he was not supposed to speak to the press, the hand and leg cuffs were actually destroyed in the house of the captain where he took the kidnap kingpin to after rescuing him from the ITR operatives. It was gathered that after shooting and killing some of the detectives, they were all moved to the military base in the town alongside the kidnapped kingpin before he was eventually moved to the house of the Commanding Officer.
Police sources said that all the team members of the IRT, would have been killed, but for the timely arrival of some police officers from the office of Area Commander as well as some senior army officers who arrived the military base on time. It was also gathered that if the wounded officers had gotten medical attention on time, the death toll recorded would have been minimal as most of the deceased were said to be alive at the time they were taken to the military base. According to the source:
“What happened was that the captain actually wanted to kill all the team members and destroy all the evidence in the case. “After the shooting, the army carried all the bodies and the wounded to their base and even wanted to kill those that were still alive but at that point, the news had filtered into the police and the IGP, directed the Area Commander to go to the army base and so he arrived there with some army officers just on time, otherwise everybody would have been wiped out.
“The captain did not just stop there, because, after the killing, he took Wadume his friend to his house and sought for the keys from both the DPO who was on leave and Crime Officer who didn’t have the key, that was when he contacted the welder. “The DPO happens to be a very good friend of the captain and they live in the same neighborhood. After destroying the leg and handcuffs, the captain proceeded to destroy other major evidence that would link him to the crime.
“First, he called the station crime officer, Inspector Aliyu Dadje, who is now in police custody and ordered him to go and destroy every evidence comprising the record of the official booking of the IRT officers to create an impression that they came for the operation without booking. “The crime officer who is being interrogated told detectives of how he was threatened by the captain who said if he did not do what he wanted him to do, he would be killed.
so he went and tore the page where the entry was made on the routine diary. But, because they had shed innocent blood, they were not able to destroy everything as police detectives have recovered all these things. “Fortunately there is other evidence of their arrival documented in the policy file. The Dead bodies were released to the area crime Officer in Wukari. When they took them to the base the captain wanted the ones that were alive to be killed. But the intervention of some other good officers and the arrival of senior officers from the area commander’s office made it impossible for him to do.
It was gathered that the two police officers who have since been arrested are being investigated for post-incident roles particularly for the administrative actions and inactions they took after the killings by the soldiers. They were said to have made a confessional statement over their role in the brutal killings. Meanwhile, more army and police officers who have been interrogated by the probe panel from the Defence Headquarters were said to have made useful confessional statement as to how the incident happened.
The panel is expected to submit its report to the Chief Of Defence Staff(CDS), General Gabriel Olonisakin, who would, in turn, present it to President Muhamadu Buhari, who ordered for an investigation into the matter.
