IT is a well-recognised fact that when the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, really wants to do a good job they are capable of doing more than a good job. It has been proved time and again that any time our police personnel are given assignments outside the shores of this country they always perform as well as the best of their peers from other countries.
They have proved their worth once again with their ability to sniff out and arrest so-called billionaire kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Wadume, who was set free by soldiers attached to 93 Battalion of the Nigeria Army, Takum after murdering three gallant police officers and a civilian in Ibi, Taraba State on August 7, 2019.
The slain officers: Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeant Dahiru Musa and Sergeant Usman Danazumi, and one Olajide Owolabi (a police informant), were members of the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team, IRT, who are regarded as super-cops due to their uncanny ability to fish out violent and hardened criminals from their hideouts.
They were sent to Taraba State to nab Wadume, which they successfully did but were intercepted and killed by some soldiers and the suspect set free.
When the sad news broke and sparked a national outrage, the Nigerian Army initially laboured to exonerate their personnel (even without first investigating the issue) by claiming that the murdered detectives were mistaken for kidnappers.
However, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, to investigate the issue.
Five of the soldiers who were at the checkpoint have been arrested while two policemen who allegedly leaked plans to arrest Wadume are also in police net.
We commend the police for a job well done. They have not only done the nation proud, they have also done great honour to their departed colleagues, especially by revealing that the Divisional Crime Officer, DCO, at Ibi Divisional Police Station had over 200 phone calls with Wadume, while the army captain had another 191 phone chats with the suspected kidnapper.
The implication of all these preliminary disclosures is that bad eggs in both the Police, Army and perhaps other security agencies, collaborate with criminals to perpetuate the violent crimes that are choking the country such as kidnapping, herdsmen attacks, banditry and terrorism.
We hope the presidential probe panel will be able to dig out more details of this to enable the Federal Government take necessary measures to stamp out our security menace.
The armed forces and security agencies should learn their lesson from this episode not to jump to the defence of their erring personnel until allegations are investigated or they will continue to lose face as the Army has done in this Wadume case.
The army captain must be brought to justice.
