Taraba Police Killing: Special Panel Arrests 5 Soldiers, 2 Policemen

Two policemen working at Ibi Police Division were said to have been arrested by a special panel investigating the killing of three policemen and a civilian on August 6, 2019, at a check point.

Daily Trust reported on Tuesday, August 13, 2019, that the two policemen were arrested for allegedly leaking information to suspected kidnap kingpin Hamisu Wadume of plans to arrest him.

The arrested police men were said to have been taken to Abuja.

The panel, it was gathered, had also ordered the arrest of five soldiers, who were on duty at Army check point. Daily Trust further gathered that two Army checkpoints between boundary of Wukari and Ibi local government areas have been dismantled.

It was also learnt that the corpses of three police men and the civilian were moved from Jalingo to Abuja. Daily Trust further gathered that 60 people alleged to be working for the suspected kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Wadume, are now on the run.

Those on the run include the manager of Wadume’s transport business as well as those who benefited from his generosity.

A source in Ibi told our reporter that some of them were working as drivers of commercial vehicles and motorcycles belonging to suspected kidnap kingpin.

According to the source they disappeared two days after the killings of the officials. The detectives, led by Deputy Police Commissioner, DCP, Abba Kyari, have sealed some houses belonging to the suspected kidnap kingpin in Ibi, the source said.

Attempts yesterday to contact the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, DCP Frank Mba, over the purported arrest were unsuccessful.

Mba neither answered phone calls nor responded to text messages by Daily Trust.

Also, the spokesman of the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu was not reachable on his mobile phone number at the time of filing this report.