Police have launched a massive manhunt nationwide for a fleeing kidnap kingpin in Taraba State, Hamisu Wadume, who was allegedly released by some soldiers at a checkpoint on Ibi-Jalingo road after the troops opened fire on a police van, killing three policemen and a civilian.
The soldiers, who claimed they mistook the policemen for kidnappers, were attached to the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Taraba State.
The Intelligence Response Team, led by ASP Felix Adolije, came under attack from the soldiers while taking Wadume, who was placed in handcuffs and leg chains, to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo. The three officers – Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeants Usman Danzumi and Dahiru Musa as well as a civilian, died as a result of gunshot wounds.
The police had expressed their fury over the development even as Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, demanded the army to produce Wadume.
“Wadume 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?” Mba asked.
But in its response, the army insisted that it did not have any answers to the questions raised by the police, including the whereabouts of Wadume.
