WADUDU EXCLUSIVE: The Arrest of A Fish Seller Turns Billionaire Kidnapper

Edited by Shola Akingboye – August 20, 2019

Hamisu Bala, popularly known as Wadume, the notorious kidnapper who caused the untimely death of five officers of the IGP, Intelligence Team (IRT), in Taraba State last week, after his arrest in Kano state has made series of confessional statement as he indicted the Nigerian Army at the Police Headquarters in Abuja.

Two police officers attached to the special anti-kidnap squad of the Inspector General of Police and a civilian were killed when soldiers opened fire on them.

RegentAfrica Times had reported that the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, had earlier issued a statement that the Police Operatives, led by ASP Felix Adolije of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) reportedly came under sudden attack by soldiers along Ibi–Jalingo Road.

In reaction, the army accepted responsibility for the killings. It, however, explained that the killings were done in error following a distress call that some suspected kidnappers who happened to be the police were on the run with their victim.

The incident generated a public row between the police and soldiers, with Nigerians completely appalled.

….How soldiers helped me escape – Wadume

However, the notorious billionaire kidnap kingpin who has since been re-arrested by detectives in a hideout in Kano, confessed that men of the Nigeria Army actually helped him escape on August 6 after he was arrested by the police.

In a video obtained by the media during police interrogation, the suspected kidnapper, who spoke in Hausa, made a confessional statement that soldiers assisted him to escape.

“I am Hamisu Bala also known as Wadume. The police came to Ibi and arrested me.

“After arresting me, they were taking away when soldiers went after them and opened fire and some policemen were killed.

“From there the soldiers took me to their headquarters and cut off the handcuffs on my hands and I ran away.

“Since I ran away, I have been hiding until now that the police arrested me.”

….The Army captain is reportedly on the payroll of Wadume

Further investigations into the have revealed that the Nigerian Army captain who allegedly ordered the release of Hamisu Bala, popularly called Wadume, exchanged 191 phone conversations with the kidnap kingpin.

According to investigations, the telephone conversations between the kidnap kingpin, Wadume and the captain were within the space of one month between July 9, 2019 and August 6, 2019.

The Army captain allegedly ordered soldiers on security check-point along the Ibi-Jalingo expressway in Taraba State, to attack and kill police operatives attached to the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

The source explained that the police authorities believed that the army captain might have been providing cover for the kidnapper, who is said to have received hundreds of millions as ransom from his victims.

It was gathered that the Army Captain, who is currently undergoing interrogation at the Defence Headquarters Abuja, was arrested alongside five other Army personnel, who were alleged to have taken part in the killing of three policemen and their two civilian agents in an operation to arrest a notorious kidnapper, Wadume, in Ibi area of Taraba State.

“The arrested soldiers confessed that 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 report said.

A source at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, reportedly said the soldiers claimed that they acted squarely 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”.

The source maintained that its investigations have also revealed that the army captain, who was not present in Ibi town at the time the IRT operatives arrested Wadume, might have ordered his men to attack and kill the IRT operatives as well as rescue “his friend”, the kidnapper.

…The Manhunt for Wadume

The IRT’s manhunt to arrest and bring down Wadume’s kidnapping empire began in March 2019, when it received a petition from one Sheriff Umar of Kirikinua South Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The petitioner reported that his cousin, Usman Mayo, was kidnapped on February 15, 2019, at Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State and his kidnapper demanded the sum of N200 million as a ransom for his release.

The source explained that the family of the kidnapped victim negotiated and paid the sum of N85 million first, on March 11, 2019, but the abductee was not released.

He said they paid an additional N15 million, on March 16, 2019, making a total sum paid to the kidnappers N100 million and the kidnappers refused to release their victim insisting that the family must pay the N200 million they demanded.

The source explained that the family reported to the police and the IRT was drafted to investigate and track down the suspects behind the kidnapping and rescue the victim.

It was learned that while investigations into the matter commenced, members of the kidnapped victim’s family paid an additional N20m to the kidnappers and the victim was released,  but the police discovered during investigations that Wadume had strong links to the kidnappers, who got N120 million as ransom from their victim.

…How Wadume rose from fish trading to big-time kidnapper

Hamisu Bala was a fish trader before venturing into the kidnapping. The young man who traded in both fresh and dried fish in Wukari, up till sometime last year, was said not to be doing very well and had to venture into kidnapping where he is said to have made millions of naira from the family members of his abductors.

Wadume was said to have started his notorious business with six AK47 riffles and 3,000, rounds of ammunition.

He got his supply from one Ojomo Gbenga Adebowale, said to be a notorious arms dealer who was arrested alongside other members of his gang by men of the IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and was recently paraded by the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja.

…Confession of Gunrunner who Supplied Wadume Riffles, Ammunition

In this interview with journalists after his arrest, Gbenga Adebowale, who graduated from The Polytechnic Ibadan, spoke on how he met Hamisu Wadume through one of his clients in Onitsha. The arms dealer who has been into arms business for over a decade said he never knew his client was into kidnapping even though he confessed that it was not his duty to interrogate his customers on what they needed the weapons for. He said that as an arms dealer, he was careful with the kind of people he kept as friends. Excerpts

My name is Ojoma Gbenga Adebowale. I am 35, years old and hail from Ondo State.

I graduated from the Polytechnic Ibadan. I studied Engineering and finished in 2001.

What have you been doing since then?

I am a gun runner, I am into firearms dealership.

How did you get to know Hamisu, the man who caused the death of the IRT officers?

I got to know him through one Moses. You know the firearm business involves a lot of people; it is not a one-man business; it’s a cartel and we have bases and we are based in different places like Lagos, Ibadan and Onitsha. So, I got to know Hamisu through one Moses from Onitsha. This Moses is a friend to one Dooshima and Dilili, who happen to be Tiv guys from Benue State.

Hamisu is a friend to Doshima and Dillili and they usually come from Makurdi, to see Moses who is my partner in firearms business; that was how I met him. There was a time I traveled to do supply in Onitsha; that was the first time I met them and that was about four years ago.

They came together to Onitsha. He wasn’t my customer, so I didn’t have much dealings with him; I only chatted with him because my business is a mafia kind of business; so I’m careful with the kind of people I deal with. Besides, I didn’t want my partner to think that I wanted to steal his customers from him, so I decided to stay away from them.

I think the last time I went to make supply, I went to Makurdi, that was six months after we met in Onitsha; we were all together in Makurdi; that was where I got to know that Hamisu is actually from a Taraba State, because all along I was thinking he was from Benue State because of his friends.

That was four years ago when I went to supply Doshima and Delili their consignments.

Later, I don’t know if he got my number from them. But early this year, I think around January, because I traveled out of the country because I had a problem and travelled and came back that was when they now broke the news of the death of Delili. He told me that Delili was dead and that he got my number through Delili because when he called me early this year, he was calling with a hidden number. It was when I picked that he said Delili was dead. I was shocked and he said that the Hamisu whom I was not really friendly to was in dire need of AK47 rifles. I think he asked for ten AK47 rifles, and I didn’t have that number at the time in my possession. But since he said he was in desperate need of them, I told him I had only six and four cans because he requested for ten. The ammunition is called can. The box of the ammunition is called can. So I said I could only provide six AK-47 and four cans that is the box of the ammunition. That was late January this year.

How much do you sell the guns?

Well, since he was in desperate need of the weapons, the AK was supposed to be N650,000, but I sold them to him for N800,000. Then the ammunition I gave to him at the rate of N350,000.

Did you give him more supplies after that?

No, I did not. You know later, the Abba Kyari boys tracked me and I was arrested and since then I have not come in contact with him again.

How did you get the weapons to Hamisu?

I brought them from Burkina Faso and I usually transport them to my clients by concealing them properly in whatever vehicle I take to do the delivery. We have a vehicle and there is a compartment we built neatly in the vehicle where we conceal these weapons that cannot be detected by security personnel on the road.

I usually bring weapons from Burkina Faso and Ghana.

I took the weapons personally to Makurdi to supply to Hamisu. We supply anywhere. But he comes from Taraba to Benue so I supplied to him in Makurdi. I travel to Makurdi and Moses too; most times Makurdi is our meeting point. We use either Onitsha or Makurdi as our supply base, but most times it is Makurdi.

How would you describe Hamisu Wadume?

Well, I never knew he was into kidnapping and I mustn’t know because we are dealers and we deal with different people. We deal with members of the communities; we deal with farmers and people who are into security. Because sometimes the prohibited ones are just out of it. We deal with only the civilian guns.

Do you usually ask your clients what they need the guns for?

No. I don’t ask because that is the business I do for a living, so we don’t usually ask those questions.

How did you feel when you heard he was arrested and freed by soldiers while the ITR guys were killed?

Honestly, I felt so, so bad about the whole incident. I felt so bad because I never knew he was into kidnapping of that magnitude.

After your meeting with him in January, have you communicated with him since then?

No. We have not really spoken because then my mind was not really settled because I overheard that the IRT guys were tracking me so I was very careful about what I did and where I went to. I was running helter-skelter. So, it was only those six AKs that he got from me although he has been dealing with Moses and others.

What is your advice to young men who want to go into crime?

I will advise them to resist from any criminal act because it is not good at all. Truly I never knew I will end up like this. I feel so remorseful about everything that I have done with my life.

….How we re-arrested millionaire kidnapper – Police

Force spokesman, Frank Mba, has described how the Police re-arrested millionaire kidnapper, Hamisu Wadume.

“His arrest followed massive manhunt launched by the Police special forces and IRT members,” Mba said in a statement released to media on Tuesday.

The statement read, “The operatives of the Nigeria Police have re-arrested the notorious kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume.

“He was re-arrested in the late hours of Monday, August 19, at his hideout at Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano State.

“It would be recalled that the Police had been on the massive manhunt for the suspect, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, since  August 6,  following the unfortunate incident in Ibi, Taraba State which resulted in the brutal murder of three Police Officers and two  civilians, and injury to five others.

“The suspect, who was appropriately restrained at the time of the incident, was subsequently released by his “rescuers” after they had destroyed the restraining handcuffs.”

The Police noted that Wadume’s arrest,”will, no doubt, help in bringing answers to the numerous but hitherto unanswered questions touching on the incident and the larger criminal enterprise of the suspect.”

…YDP Sisowns Hamisu Wadume

Meanwhile, against the popular belief, the Young Democratic Party (YDP) has described as ‘untrue’ reports that suspected kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Wadume, was its member.

The party has since denied it had “no record of his membership whatsoever,” and also dispelled reports that Wadume contested the Taraba State House of Assembly on its platform during the 2019 general elections.

A statement issued on Tuesday evening by the acting National Publicity Secretary of YDP, Ibrahim Rufun Jauro, asked the security agencies to unravel the mystery behind the Ibi incident and bring all those culpable to justice, “especially at this time when insecurity is at its peak.”

He said, “Our attention has been drawn to unsubstantiated information circulating in the social media that one Alhaji Hamisu Wadume, an alleged kidnap kingpin who escaped from the custody of the Police while under arrest and during a disturbing confrontation between Police and Army officers in Ibi LGA a few days ago, is a member of the YDP and contested the Taraba State House of Assembly under our party’s flag in 2019.

“The YDP wishes to state categorically that two party members from Ibi LG procured EOI/Nomination forms for the position of member, Taraba State House of Assembly and Alhaji Hamisu Wadume was not one of them.

“We have no record of his membership whatsoever.

“Members of the public are hereby asked to disregard the posts and other information linking the alleged suspect to the YDP,” the release added.

The party also urged security agencies to investigate the Ibi incident, and bring all those culpable to justice.

It prayed for families of three policemen and a civilian who died in the incident.