By Mitaire Ikpen

Zakari Biu was last Wednesday dismissed from the Police Force by the Police Service Commission, PSC, for the commando-styled escape of Kabiru Sokoto, a Boko Haram suspect who is believed to have masterminded the dastardly Christmas Day bombing of the St. Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, near Abuja, which claimed 44 lives, leaving many others severely injured.

Following a tip off on his alleged complicity in the Madalla church bombing, the police got on the trail of Kabiru via its latest GPRS technology device and traced him to the Borno Governor’s Lodge in Abuja. He was promptly arrested alongside a serving officer of the armed forces and the two men were taken to the Zone 7 Police Area command under the supervision of CP Zakari Biu.

After interrogation, police sources said useful information that could lead to the arrest of other Boko Haram masterminds was obtained from Kabiru. The police considered Kabiru’s arrest a significant breakthrough in its already sloppy Boko Haram investigations, and even planned to collaborate with international agencies to ascertain whether Kabiru’s planned trip to London is linked with possible meetings with members of other international terrorist organizations.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that Kabiru confessed during interrogation that his sect has a hide-out at Abaji, a suburb about 70 kilometres to Abuja, from where activities to attack the FCT were being coordinated. Kabiru was also demystified as an arms dealer and investigations linked him to the sons of the Ona of Abaji, Alhaji Adamu Yunusa, who is said to enjoy huge political patronage from important people in the corridors of power.

Biu reportedly handed over Kabiru to a team of policemen who then led him to his house in Abaji to conduct a search and verify his confessions. The team completed their assignment but chose to pay a visit to the traditional ruler of Abaji. The account had it that on the way to the Ona’s palace, a group of Boko Haram suspects allegedly attacked the police team and whisked away Kabiru in handcuffs from heavily armed policemen.

Zakari Biu

Biu was immediately placed on suspension for dereliction of duty but the whole episode raised a whole lot of mind-boggling questions. Why would a police officer of Zakari Biu’s standing handle the investigation of a high priority suspect with kid gloves? Why would he release Kabiru from secure custody in Abuja to subordinates on errand to Abaji?  How was Kabiru, in handcuffs, able to overrun a team of heavily armed policemen?

How come the police team so effortlessly relinquished Sokoto to his accomplices without a scratch or injury? Who tipped off the Boko Haram members that the police team was on its way? Was it part of the brief of the police team to check on the Abaji ruler? Why did the police initially hide the whole episode from the public until it was pressed for information by the media? Why was Kabiru not declared wanted until 3 days after his escape? A whole lot of questions begged for answers.

Zakari Biu, as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) during the dark days of the Abacha era, was fingered for several human rights abuses perpetrated under that infamous regime.  He hit the limelight then as a member of the self-styled anti-terrorism squad coordinated by Major Al-Mustapha which hounded members of NADECO, the chief opposition group at that time that which openly criticized the Abacha government.

At the time, he was widely believed to be in charge of the series of state-sponsored bombings and coordinated assassinations on leading citizens that kicked against the Abacha regime.

Among them were the cases of Bagauda Kaltho, a journalist in the employ of The NEWS magazine, and Dr. Sola Omatsola, former Chief Security Officer of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, blown to death by a bomb. Both men got in the black book of the merciless anti-terrorism squad for allegedly assisting NADECO to malign the Abacha government before the eyes of the local and international community.

Former NADECO member, Professor Wole Soyinka’s had this to say of Biu: “There’s no reason why somebody like Zakari Biu cannot be co-opted by the al-Qaeda because, obviously, he has no concern for humanity. He’s a complete brute. You know, he can torture. I can see Zakari Biu very happily strapping a bomb to himself and blowing up a passenger plane,” he said.

In corroboration of Biu’s perceived brutality, another citizen who would simply identify himself as Uche recalled: “This man tortured me and my friends way back in 1996/97 in our university days in the University of Port Harcourt.

As members of the National Association of Seadogs a.k.a Pyrates Confraternity, we were arrested on the pretext that we were planning to assist Wole Soyinka our capone to throw bombs for NADECO in Port Harcourt . I remember his face and his name while we were kept in solitary confinement in bori camp army barracks for months unending and constant thrashing with koboko.

I wonder what he is still doing in the police. We finally got judgment from the Federal High Court after he had threatened to deal with the Judge …Justice Abutu of the Federal High court Calabar granted us bail eventually because the federal high court judge in Port Harcourt was scared of handling the case.”

Zakari Biu has had his own taste of the lethal impact of bomb attacks. His son, Tahir, was killed in the bomb attack that took place near the Eagle Square on October 1, 2010, for which foremost Niger Delta militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility. At the time of his death, Tahir was a police officer attached to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and many wondered if it was a mere coincidence that he was at the scene of that earth-rocking bomb blast.

In an attempt to link him with anything and everything negative, Biu is even sometimes misrepresented. Many erroneously believe he is the officer that stood trial for the extrajudicial murder of the famous Apo 6. Whereas the officer that stood trial was Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Danjuma Ibrahim.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo himself got a taste of the pudding. Biu was rumoured to have tortured General Obasanjo mercilessly in prison when the former head of state and several others were jailed for their alleged involvement in the phantom coup plot to unseat Gen. Abacha in 1995. Biu was said to have shown Obasanjo no mercy in prison.

Zakari Biu was summarily dismissed from the Nigeria Police Force in 1999 when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo took over the reins of government. The federal government under Obasanjo got on the trail of all the hatchet men that unleashed terror during the Abacha regime, to make them answer for their atrocities. At the Justice Oputa Truth and Reconciliation hearings that followed, Biu’s name was continually mentioned in brutal and sadistic evidences given to the Truth Commission.

How he made his way back into the force still defies the comprehension of many. Biu is however described by sources as Ringim’s man Friday. Some sources believe Ringim facilitated Biu’s re-instatement in the Nigeria Police Force by getting him to file an appeal to the Police Service Commission which promptly reviewed Biu’s dismissal and chose to drop all the unsavoury petitions and allegations against him. He was reinstated to the Force and promoted to the rank of Commissioner of Police (CP).

The disappearance of Kabiru the way he did brings to mind the submission by President Goodluck Jonathan that members of the Boko Haram sect has infiltrated government circles’. As if Kabiru’s escape was a child’s play, 6 suspected Boko Haram members alleged to have links with the Suleija INEC office bombing that killed some corps members and other individuals were only recently granted bail by an Abuja court and allowed to go free.