Army captain that freed me is on my payroll – Wadume reveals

Hamisu Wadume in his confession to the police upon getting re-arrested in Kano, revealed that the army captain that ordered soldiers to attack the undercover Intelligence Response Team (IRT) operatives transporting him to Taraba State Police Headquarters for interrogation, is on his payroll alongside other officers.

The Taraba kidnap kingpin on Wednesday August 21, said he paid huge amounts into the army captain’s bank account three weeks ago and also paid his way through checkpoints to avoid getting arrested with his gang members. The Nation reported that the re-arrested suspect and his gang gave N20,000 to security agents each time they passed a checkpoint.

The army captain identified as Balarabe, ordered soldiers to “rescue” Wadume after his ‘boys’ “Babaruns” and ”Zubairu” called him on August 6 to tell him about his arrest. The kidnap kingpin on Tuesday August 20, revealed how the army captain freed him from police custody. He said the soldiers drove him to the barracks before he was taken to the army captain’s house, where a welder was invited to cut off the hand and leg chains.

The police recovered 13 vehicles and identified several choice properties in Taraba and Nasarawa allegedly bought through proceeds of crime, after Wadume revealed that he has three kidnap syndicates in Taraba and Nasarawa states with a network of major firearms suppliers. He also owns over 400 cows which his rearers fled with upon learning that their boss had been arrested.

“He has made so many revelations. A lot of things have been said that I don’t want to talk about to avoid jeopardising ongoing investigations. It is a huge network and so many people are involved.

“I can tell you that he confessed to have paid huge money into the Captain’s bank account three weeks ago and that he usually gave each checkpoint N20,000 each time he passed,” said a source privy to the investigation.

It was further learnt that Wadume’s video confession of being taken to army barracks where his handcuff was removed through the effort of a welder, has gotten the Joint Investigative Panel set up by the Defence Headquarters worried. Insiders said Wadume’s viral video confession placed the military high command in a bad light, as the police high command ought to have talked things through with army chiefs since the investigation was ongoing.

“We are seriously disturbed and alarmed by the latest video on the purported confession of the re-arrested kingpin, Wadume, while in the custody of the police.

“Though it is a commendable effort for the re-arrest of the kidnap kingpin, the video recording of the alleged confession of Wadume while the panel is still conducting its investigation is quite worrisome as efforts are being put in place to ensure smooth relations between the military and the police before the offending confession.

“Though our panel was inaugurated on August 9 with an initial one-week deadline, we have been mandated to continue and conclude the probe as soon as possible.

“The arrest of Wadume would definitely shed more light on our investigation, considering the volume of arrests and interrogations so far” a source said.