Army Officer Working With Kidnap Kingpin, Wadume Identified As Captain Tijani Balarabe

The rogue army officer working with kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Wadume, in Taraba State has been identified as Captain Tijani Balarabe.

Captain Balarabe allegedly instructed the soldiers under his command to rescue Wadume after killing three police officers and a civilian who arrested the kidnap kingpin.

Mr. Wadume was re-arrested by the IGP Intelligence Response Team on Monday evening, in Kano State, and brought to the Force Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, ending weeks of a manhunt for him.

Following his arrival at the Force Headquarters, Mr. Wadume told Inspector-General Muhammad Adamu and other officers that he had maintained a close relationship with military and law enforcement authorities in Taraba State for a long time.

According to Premium Times, He said he was friends with an Army captain, Tijani Balarabe, as well as a police division crime officer in Ibi, Taraba State, police sources said.

Mr Wadume also said it was Mr Balarabe who ordered soldiers to open fire on the police team and set him free, before a welder machine was later brought in to break the police handcuffs.

“He said he started hearing gunshots while the police officers were taking him away after his first arrest, only to findout later that they were soldiers who had come to rescue him,” a police source said.

“He said the army captain asked him to claim he ran away with the handcuffs by himself and not that soldiers helped him to break loose.”

Mr. Wadume also denied any involvement in abduction-for-ransom schemes, saying the police were wrong about describing his activities as kidnapping.