BREAKING NEWS: POLICEMEN KILLED BY SOLDIERS – WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

The incident that occurred in Taraba State whereby some soldiers shot dead three policemen and wounded others might  hold more secrets than was revealed what the police spokesperson presented to the public.

As reported in the Punch and other media, “The Nigeria Police Force has accused some unidentified soldiers of shooting to death three police officers and a civilian along Ibi-Jalingo Road, Taraba State. Several other officers were also injured during the attack. The Police operatives led by ASP Felix Adolije of the Intelligence Response Team reportedly came under sudden attack while taking a kidnap kingpin, Alhaji Hamisu, to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo. The Force spokesman, DCP Frank Mba, explained in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday that one Police Inspector, two Sergeants and a civilian died as a result of gunshot injuries sustained in the attack” – Punch.

There seems to be more. Police officers in the special police unit known as Intelligence Response Team (IRT), led by one ASP Felix Adolije, traveled from Abuja to Taraba State in order to arrest a businessman suspected of being a kidnapper. The businessman was said to have been set-up by a politician (member of the House of Rep) with whom he had a quarrel. The politician instigated the police operation. This incident occurred in Ibi Local Government, Taraba State.

The police team decided to raid the house of the businessman around 1:00am. The neighbors of the businessman, seeing how the man was bundled up by strange looking armed men, assumed the men were kidnappers. They called the soldiers at the nearby military checkpoint for help.

The IRT men were travelling in a Hummer bus driven by one of them. There were 10 police officers in their vehicle plus a civilian who directed them to the suspect’s house. On their way going, they crossed two military checkpoints.  It was said that the men did not disclose their identities or mission to the soldiers at the checkpoints on their way to the suspect’s house.

However, coming back after arresting the man, the policemen crossed the first military checkpoint without stopping. They did not realized that the soldiers had become suspicious of their vehicle based on the alert they received. The soldiers who had seen them earlier, probably noticed an additional passenger in the vehicle. Believing that this was an active kidnapping operation, the soldiers at the first checkpoint alerted their colleagues at the next checkpoint.

It is not clear what exactly happened next. But it is believed that acting on the alert received from soldiers at the first checkpoint, soldiers at the second checkpoint opened fire on the fast approaching vehicle. The bus crashed and three police officers and one civilian lay dead, four officers critically wounded and three officers ran into the bush. It is not clear whether the men died of the crash or gunshot wounds. Apparently, the suspect survived.

While the details are still murky, it seems that there were blunders and unprofessional tactics on both the policemen and the soldiers. The police ought to have understood the implications of there being those military checkpoints and should have factored that into their operational calculus. What would soldiers on a checkpoint think of unidentified men in a speeding vehicle in the middle of the night? That was the what-if question they failed to ask. Also people familiar with how the IRT men behave in traffic speak of the extreme arrogance and intimidation of even other security men they encounter on the highway.

On their part, the soldiers failed to know how to stop an approaching vehicle without shooting at it. The fact that some of the officers were able to run into the bush suggests that the vehicle had stopped before the altercation, which will suggest that the IRT men identified themselves.

The whole story is confounded by the fact that the suspect managed to escape. The soldiers failed to ensure that the survivors of the crash and gunshot were trackable, especially after realizing that the men were police officers.

The police headquarters has declared where the police stand on the matter. It remains for the military to indicate the outcome of its own investigation. There are many lessons from what happened.