The Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army are currently
at loggerheads after the police accused soldiers of killing three of their
personnel while freeing a kidnap suspect in Taraba state. (Read HERE)
The Nigerian army in its response admitted that its men
killed three police operatives and a civilian in Taraba, but said the men were
mistaken for kidnappers. (Read HERE)
Now, the Nigerian Police Force have issued another statement
saying, 'its insensitive, disrespectful and unpatriotic for the Army to
continue to describe Policemen on lawful National Assignment as ‘suspected
kidnappers’ long after it had become crystal clear to the Army that these are
Law Enforcement Officers who unfortunately were gruesomely murdered in the line
of duty by Nigerian soldiers attached to 93 Battalion, Takum'.
See the full statement below...
The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to
the Press Release by the Nigerian Army dated 07 August, 2019, seeking to
justify the unprovoked and unwarranted murder of three (3) Police officers and
one (1) Civilian, and serious injury to other operatives, who were on
legitimate criminal investigation activities to Taraba State, to arrest one
Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume indicted in a series of high-profile kidnap incidents
in the State.
In the best tradition of Esprit de Corps, Inter-Agency
Harmony and National Interest, the Nigeria Police Force would naturally have
kept quiet, but it has become imperative to set the record straight by
addressing the obvious distortion of facts inherent in the Press Release by the
Nigerian Army.
The most important question arising from the Nigerian Army
Press Release is: Where is Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume? Alhaji Hamisu Bala 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?
Secondly, the Press Release was silent on the source of the
alleged distress report or identity of the complainant, on the strength of
whose report, the Army claimed had informed their decision to engage in the
purported chase and rescue operation.
Needless to state that in the true spirit of transparency
and accountability, the Nigerian Army ought to have arrested the purported
distress caller - if any - for obviously and deliberately furnishing them with
false and misleading information. Besides, such arrest should in fact be made
public!
Thirdly, it is not true that the Policemen failed to
identify themselves as alleged in the Press Release. The video on the incident,
now viral, wherein the voice of one of the soldiers was heard loudly
proclaiming that the Policemen were from the Force Headquarters, Abuja speaks
volume.
Besides, the presence of the IRT personnel was well known to
the Taraba Police Command as the Operatives officially and properly documented
not only at the State Command Headquarters but also at the Wukari Area Command
and the Ibi Divisional Headquarters. As a matter of fact, some of the
Detectives from the Taraba State Command’s Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) were part of the operation.
The Force also considers it insensitive, disrespectful and
unpatriotic for the Press Release by the Army to continue to describe Policemen
on lawful National Assignment as ‘suspected kidnappers’ long after it had
become crystal clear to the Army that these are Law Enforcement Officers who
unfortunately were gruesomely murdered in the line of duty by Nigerian soldiers
attached to 93 Battalion, Takum.
In the final analysis, we leave the Nigerian Army
authorities to provide Nigerians with answers on the following questions
emanating from their Press Release:
· Where is the notorious kidnapper, Alhaji Hamisu Bala
Wadume ‘rescued’ by the soldiers?
· How and why was Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume released by the
soldiers?
· How could a kidnap suspect properly restrained with
handcuffs by the Police escape from the hands of his military rescuers?
· If Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume is a ‘‘victim of kidnap’’ as
claimed, and properly rescued by soldiers, why was he not taken to the Army
Base for documentation purposes and debriefing in line with the Standard
Operating Procedure in the Nigerian Army?
· Why were the Police Operatives shot at close range even
after they had identified themselves as Police Officers on legitimate duty as
evident in the video now in circulation?
DCP FRANK MBA
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FORCE HEADQUARTERS
ABUJA
