The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that all the culprits involved in the murder of the Intelligence Response Team operatives and two civilians on August 6, 2019, are prosecuted and justice served.

Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director of RULAAC, in a statement, said the government should not shield the army officers involved in the killings from justice.

The statement partly read, “On August 6, 2019, three operatives of the Inspector General of Police – Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT) and two civilians were shot and murdered in cold blood by army officers of the 93 battalion. The police operatives were conveying a notorious kidnapper, Hamisu Wadume, in a white Hummer Bus and heading to the Taraba State Police Headquarters after they arrested the kingpin in Taraba.

“The army officers, including Army Captain Tijani Balarabe, who ordered the shooting and some others of 93 battalion, were at an army checkpoint where they had earlier flagged down the bus in which the operatives were conveying the kidnap kingpin. The operatives stopped and identified themselves as police officers and were signalled to proceed. However, not long thereafter, the same army officers pursued the operatives, opened fire on them and their bus somersaulted.

“They surrounded them, amidst the crowd that gathered, and began to shoot them, ignoring their pleas that they were police officers attached to the IRT. At the last count, three of the officers and two civilians were killed on the spot while some of their colleagues escaped with grievous injuries and were hospitalised. 

“The army officers ‘rescued’ the arrested kidnap kingpin who was in handcuffs and took him to the residence of the Commander, where they cut loose the handcuff and freed him to escape. But he was rearrested 13 days later in his hideout in Kano by IRT operatives. 

“The army claimed that their officers responded to an alarm they received that kidnappers had kidnapped Wadume and that they responded to rescue him and mistook the police operatives as the kidnappers. But the Police countered that their men properly and officially registered their presence in the state upon their arrival on the official mission to arrest the wanted kidnap kingpin. 

“The police also said that their officers also properly  identified themselves at the army checkpoint where the army officers first stopped them and that at the spot where the army officers were attacking them, the operatives also identified themselves but the army officers ignored their pleas and explanations and murdered them.

“Later, there were reports that the Panel’s report had been submitted to the Chief of Defence Staff who, in turn, was said to have submitted the same report to the President for his review and comments. Nothing more was heard several months after, despite questions being asked as to when the report would be made public and those indicted charged accordingly. All we heard was a deafening silence, fuelling suspicion of a cover-up bid. 

“Media reports later quoted the panel as saying that the Army Captain, Tijani Balarabe, who ordered the shooting of the bus conveying the suspected kidnapper, did so because there was an alarm claiming that kidnappers have abducted Alhaji Hamish Bala Wadume in a white Hummer bus.

“It is also instructive to note that the army officers who ‘rescued’ the ‘kidnapped’ kidnapper did not hand him over to the police or even take him to their own office for proper documentation. They took him to the residence of the army commander who ordered the ‘rescue operation’ that resulted in the murder of the police officers. It was there that they cut off the handcuff and freed him to escape.”

RULAAC described the arraignment of Wadume and other suspects in February 2020 without the army officers charged with them ’as an attempt to cover up the case’.

It added, “Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff had been reported to have ignored the IGP’s communication requesting him to release the army officers for trial.

“The trial judge also ordered that all the suspects, including the army personnel involved in the murder, be arraigned at the next hearing adjourned to March 2010. But at the next court appearance, and to the chagrin of the close watchers of this episode, the Prosecutor from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), who had taken over the prosecution from the police, announced that the AGF had removed the names of all the indicted army officers from the charge sheet. No reason was stated for this curious development.

“RULAAC is seriously concerned by the apparent attempt by the Chief of Army Staff and the AGF to shield suspected murderers from justice. Such an attempt is the most unspeakable and outrageous act by anyone, no less a person who is supposed to be the chief law officer of the country. On what moral and legal basis can this be justified?

“We acknowledge that Nigerian law grants the Attorney General of the federation and the states the power to withdraw criminal charges at some point in the course of prosecution of crime. But this power must be exercised responsibly and in the public interest. What public interest is served by shielding from justice army officers responsible for the murder of police officers for carrying out their legitimate duty of arresting a high profile kidnapper who had been terrorising parts of the country?

“The gallant IRT officers should not die in vain. The morale of their fellow officers still in service will also be dampened and they will feel that their lives don’t matter, and therefore, see no reason to be dedicated to service. The travesty of shielding the murderers of their colleagues from justice could make them take out their frustrations on society.”