Wadume’s Brother Sold Two Guns To Me To Raise Money For Wadume Special Prayers—Officer Narrates

The Federal High Court in Abuja has admitted as exhibits the confessional statements of two accomplices facing charges alongside Taraba State notorious kidnap kingpin Bala is popularly known as Wadume.

One of the defendants, Zubairu Abdullahi, also known as Basho revealed that he bought two of Wadume’s guns from his brother, Uba Bala, as instructed by the infamous kidnap kingpin.

Brandnewsday gathers that Justice Binta Nyako, who had earlier received the confessional statements of Wadume and four other co-defendants on Monday had ruled on Wednesday. Adding that the weight or probative value to be included alongside the statements would be determined at the final stage of the judgement.

Wadume was first arrested in Ibi by IRT members on August 6, 2019, before soldiers led by Captain Tijjani Balarabe aided his escape from the custody of the policemen conveying him to Abuja.

Taraba Wadume Kidnap Kinpin

The second defendant, whose confessional statement was admitted as an exhibit on Wednesday, was Inspector Aliyu Dadje, a station officer at the police headquarters in Ibi, Taraba State.

Dadje confessed in his statement that he registered the arrival of the members of the IRT from Abuja to Ibi, but tore the page of the situation register after being threatened with death by Balarabe.

Meanwhile, Abdullahi had confessed in his statement that he bought two guns from Wadume’s brother, who was allegedly instructed by Wadume from Kano to sell two of his guns to raise money for special prayers after his botched police arrest.

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However, lawyers to Dadje and Abdullahi had on Monday, denied the voluntariness of their statements, prompting the judge to order a trial-within-trial.

While Dadje alleged that he was induced by the police investigators into confessing to the crime to implicate Balarabe, Abdullahi said his confession followed severe bouts of torture he was subjected to.

Wadume accomplices

Although the rest of the defendants comprising Wadume, Auwalu Bala (aka Omo Razor), Uba Bala (aka Uba Belu); Bashir Waziri, (aka Baba Runs); and Rayyanu Abdul, did not deny the voluntariness of their statements, their lawyers had argued that tendering the English versions, without being accompanied by the defendants’ recorded Hausa dictation of the alleged confessions was a violation of the Evidence Act.

In her ruling, she said: “I declare that merely denying making the statements in accordance with the provision of the law is not sufficient to reject the statements. The defendants have not provided sufficient materials before the court to show that the statements were not recorded in accordance with the law.”

Justice Nyako, therefore, admitted the statements in evidence but added that “the probative value or weight will be attached to it at the final address stage.”

Recall that Captain Balarabe-led troops attached to the 93 Battalion in Takum, Taraba State, had allegedly shot at policemen, who were conveying Wadume to Abuja shortly after arresting the prime suspect in Ibi, Taraba State, on August 6, 2019.

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The soldiers allegedly killed three policemen and two civilians while five others were wounded in the attack aimed at freeing Wadume from police custody.

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr, Abubakar Malami (SAN), removed the names of the soldiers as defendants from the case within days of taking over the matter from the police earlier this month.

Wadume and six others are now being prosecuted on 13 counts of kidnapping, escape from custody, gunrunning, detention of kidnap victim Usman Garba, and collection of a ransom of N106m from the victim before releasing him.

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