Juliana Francis
Four suspects, arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping by the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police Force, have revealed why and how they killed a lawmaker, Honourable Musa Mante, and a retired Divisional Police Officer (DPO) identified as Garkuwa, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
The suspects confessed that they killed the DPO after his retirement for making life tough and miserable for them. They also said that the late DPO harassed and stressed them out by constantly hunting for them.
They also confessed to have killed the late lawmaker and kidnapped his wives and children for failing to assist them with funds after several requests.
The prime suspect is Hamishu Galadima, 48, alias Kan Wuka and Abdulwahab Alhassan alias Emeka. Others are Abdulwahab Ahmed alias Dan mama and Hamidu Saleh.
The four suspects were arrested by the IRT operatives following reports on their activities by indigenes of Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
Julianafrancisnews.com heard that the suspects were arrested after a well-coordinated operation led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Tunji Disu in charge of IRT.
After their arrests, the suspects started singing like a bird, allegedly admitting their involvement and roles in all the kidnappings and armed robbery operations in Plateau, Bauchi, and Kaduna villages and market roads on Mondays.
They also confessed to have burgled the room of one Suleiman Shuaibu alias Shayi a native of Dass local council of Bauchi State at about 01: 15 AM and then took his family of six into captivity.
Hamishu reportedly said: “My gang and I killed the DPO because he was in the habit of always hunting for every time a crime was committed and reported. As for the lawmaker, our gang eliminated him for refusing to assist us with funds after several requests were made to him from our gang members whereas he always assisted others. We entered the house of the honourable member House of Assembly Hon. Musa Mante killed him in his room and took physical cash of N2,000000. We kidnapped his two wives and took them to Dutsin Miagoshi Igala. The victims spent almost four days in captivity, and we demanded a ransom of N35,000,000.00.”
Recalling how the gang killed Mante, Hamishu told the police: “I was the person guarding the lawmaker’s house, while other gang members entered through the roof of the house and took away his money before killing him.”
The other suspect, Abdulwahab alias Emeka, who confessed that they worked with the gang leader in the various kidnapping cases, added that he was previously dealing in hard drugs, and had interacted with and knew all the criminals terrorising the villages in Bauchi.
He added: “However, I did not follow the gang members to the house of the lawmaker. I only provided the information needed for his capture. I am an ex-convict and was arrested for drug offences by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). I have been imprisoned twice and I have served my term before I was released.”
Upon further interrogations by the IRT media team, all the suspects admitted that they had engaged the late lawmaker in an argument about his constituency projects that were said to be lopsided.
“When he could not provide a satisfactory answer we shot him,” said the gang.
They also said that they ganged up against the retired DPO because he vowed to continue to pursue and deal with criminals in the area so that the indigenes would be safe and secured.
On the exhibits recovered by the Police team, the gang confessed to have operated with one AK47 assault rifle and an assorted range of ammunition.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has directed that all the weapons, arms, and ammunition in the hands of criminal elements such as kidnappers and bandits should be mopped up for the security of lives of citizens of the country.
The Police authorities through the Force Spokesman CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, have assured that all the suspects are going to be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the laws of the nation.
