Adventures of Wadume
He could well have been
Nigeria’s equivalent of the notorious Mexican drug lord, ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, who
now is cooling his heels on a life term in United States incarceration. Only he
isn’t at odds with the law for drug dealing, but rather for suspicion of
lucrative exploits in the trendy crime of kidnapping. However, Bala Hamisu,
also known as Wadume, had a reputation for eelish manoeuvre through the
Nigerian security setup as Guzman had in his country until his third re-arrest
in January 2016, which ended his slippery duel with the Mexican law and got him
delivered to the clenching jaws of American legal system.
Wadume, a millionaire
kidnap suspect, was recaptured early last week after being sprung free from an
arrest on 6th of August by police personnel, who subsequently ran
into a hail of gunfire by soldiers suspected to be working in the suspect’s interest
while he was being conveyed from Ibi where he was arrested to Jalingo, Taraba
State. Three police officers from the Inspector-General’s Intelligence Response
Team (IRT) and two civilians died in the firestorm by soldiers from 93
Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Takum, with five other operatives getting
injured. That incident opened up bitter acrimony between the two security services.
The army explained that it was an unintended mishap stemming from mistaken
identity by soldiers, who in response to a distress call mistook the police
personnel for kidnappers and the arrested suspect for a victim. But the police
insisted that the soldiers’ real motive was to free the arrested suspect at the
cost of taking out affected lives.
With the credibility
battle waged between those two institutions, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered
an inter-service probe of the incident. A joint service panel raised by Chief
of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, has representatives drawn from the
Police, Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of State Services (DSS) and the
Defence Intelligence Agency. It was yet to conclude its work as at the weekend.
The police meanwhile
recorded a major feat by recapturing Wadume early last week, and the force
proceeded to publicise alleged
confessions made by the suspect. Wadume, who was said to be in restraining
handcuffs at the time of his escape in the Ibi-Jalingo road firefight, was
re-arrested in a hideout at Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano State. He was
shown in a police video saying soldiers took him to their base after liberating
him from police personnel who had arrested him, and they had his handcuffs removed
by a welder before he was let off on the run. A statement by police spokesman Frank
Mba, a Deputy Commissioner, cited Inspector-General Muhammed Adamu saying the
re-arrest of Wadume “will, no doubt, help in bringing answers to the numerous
but hitherto unanswered questions touching on the incident and the larger
criminal enterprise of the suspect.”
With the circumstances
of his escape from initial arrest, Wadume should have much to reveal about the
dark underbelly of Nigerian security operatives. For instance, media reports
cited him saying during police interrogation after his recapture that an army
Captain and some other officers were on his payroll. He also reportedly said he
paid his way with generous ‘tolls’ at checkpoints en route to his hideout. It should help our collective security as
citizens if Wadume is made to face-tag the alleged payrolled officers, and if
these are thoroughly investigated by the army and brought to justice if found complicit
as alleged. Besides, it is high time all relevant security services did
definitive risk mapping of checkpoints manned by their personnel, based on the
susceptibility of those personnel to being blindsided with bribes by fleeing
criminals.
But then, Wadume’s
‘confessions’ further highlighted the discord underpinning Nigeria’s security
architecture, with military sources reported accusing the police of scripted
media trial of the kidnap suspect. A top military source was cited by the media
wondering why Wadume, a subject of a presidential probe, was interrogated by
the police without a representative of the army being present, and why the police
appeared to be pre-empting the presidential panel’s investigation.
‘It is high time security services did definitive risk
mapping of checkpoints manned by their personnel, based on the susceptibility
of those personnel to being blindsided with bribes by fleeing criminals’
The source was quoted
saying: “Following the re-arrest of (Wadume) and his video broadcast that was released
by the police, certain pertinent questions arise: It is no secret that an
all-encompassing presidential investigation committee set up by the Defence
Headquarters is currently investigating the allegations of his escape. Why have
the police decided to come out with a statement directly accusing the army
before the presidential panel, which is almost concluding its investigation,
rounds up? What is the rush in pre-empting the panel’s report? And in the
police statement, why was little or no mention made about the major issue –
that is, the crime of kidnapping – which is supposed to be the focus of
Wadume’s arrest? The re-arrested (suspect) should not have been interrogated by
the police alone in a matter over which both organisations are trading blames
and subsequent confession is made to only one party, and that same confession
is made public by the police.”
In other reports, a
member of the joint service investigation panel argued that the media parade of
Wadume’s confessions poisoned the well of ongoing efforts to smoothen the
working relationship between the police and the army. “Though it is commendable
that the kidnap kingpin was re-arrested, the video recording of (his) alleged
confession while the panel is still conducting its investigation is quite
worrisome, as efforts were being put in place to ensure smooth relations
between the military and the police before the offending confession,” the
panelist was reported saying.
On this space the last
time out, I linked the apparent disarray in operations by Nigerian security
agencies to the nebulous architecture on which basis they operate and argued
for a redesign of that architecture. Developments over the past week as afore
outlined only make me restate that proposition here. Rather than random deployment
of military personnel to complement the police in tackling escalating threats
of internal insecurity as is presently the case, we should have a more cohesive
structure for internal law keeping that intermediates between the civil
orientation of the police and warfare orientation of the military. And it isn’t
so far fetched, as it might seem, to implement such a structure. The community
policing initiative already being contemplated by government could be fashioned
in the mould of the United States National Guard that is community-based and
reports to the governor of respective state, unless called up to protect
national interests in times of conflict or natural disaster. That guard is
essentially civil, but is yet so military in orientation that it gets mobilised
to complement the U.S. army in combat whenever the need arises.
Also following from
Wadume’s confessions is the need to reassess the value of media parade of crime
suspects by the police. Media parades are where suspects readily own up to offences,
which eventually become a tall order for the police to secure formal conviction
from the judiciary. Even notorious suspects like alleged kidnap kingpin, Evans,
have till date grinded rather laboriously through the gritty wheel of justice
when compared to the hype of their arrest and media parade by the police. In
Wadume’s case, the parade has aggravated the acrimony between the police and
the army. Meanwhile, rights crusaders have always argued that such parades
shortchange suspects of their right to be presumed innocent until found guilty
by the court of law. Until a competent court is persuaded to convict him,
Wadume’s touted confessions may be just another preemptive but vacuous strike
by the police.
Comments