FOLLOWING, the arrest of the Nigerian Army Captain who allegedly ordered soldiers in Taraba State, to open fire on police personnel leading to the death of three police officers, investigations revealed that the escaped kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Wadume had exchanged over 190 phone calls with him according to a report. 

The army captain who was arrested alongside five other military personnel, who allegedly took part in the dastardly act, are currently being interrogated at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.

Police investigations showed that conversation via phone had existed between the army captain and the notorious kidnapper,  Wadume which the records indicated that over 190 phone calls were exchanged between the duo from July 9, 2019, and August 6, 2019.

Efforts made by The ICIR to speak to Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Frank Mba, to confirm the veracity of the story proved abortive as calls on his line were not answered and a text message sent to him was not replied at the time of filing this report.

A source quoted in the report stated that “top police hierarchy believes that the army captain might have been providing cover for the kidnapper, who is alleged to have received hundreds of millions as ransom from his kidnap victims.”

The arrested soldiers had admitted they received orders to attack the policemen from the captain, whom they said informed them that Wadume had been kidnapped and was being transported in a silver-coloured Toyota Hiace Bus.

The soldiers also claimed that they acted on the orders of the captain, being their superior officer, but police sources at Force Headquarters Abuja disclosed that the police authorities have established strong links between the army captain and the notorious kidnapper, alleging that the army captain was on the kidnapper’s payroll.

In another development, elder brother of one of the slain police officers, Andrew Ediale in a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, demanding that justice be meted on the soldiers who participated in the killings

“Justice should be done, we want justice. The same army that is charged with protecting the citizens of this country are the perpetrators of this barbaric act,” he said.

He questioned the role of the army’s involvement in the alleged killings and their sponsors.

“Our question is who are these soldiers working for? Whose side are they on and whose payroll is this military personnel on? These are the many questions we demand answers?

“We demand to know why? And why the kidnapper was released, and the effort of the gallant police officers was not only compromised, their life was equally cut short, we demand justice,” he concluded.