TheCable

Hamisu Bala, the suspected kidnap kingpin better known as Wadume, has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

Wadume was charged alongside Aliyu Dadje, a police inspector, Auwalu Bala, Uba Bala, Bashir Wazlri, Zubairu Abdullahi and Rayyanu Abdul.

They were prosecuted by the office of the attorney-general of the federation on a 13-count charge.

Binta Nyako, the presiding judge, delivered the judgment on July 22 — but it was made available to the media on Sunday.

The judge convicted Wadume on two counts — escaping from lawful custody and unlawfully dealing in prohibited firearms.

Uba Bala and Abdullahi were also sentenced to seven years imprisonment each.

Dadje, a police inspector, was sentenced to three years for tampering with police records to conceal a crime. He was the station officer at the Ibi divisional police headquarters, Ibi LGA of Taraba state at the time of the crime.

According to court records, Dadje was said to have tampered with entries made by Felix Adolije, leader of the IGP IRT team in August 2019, by tearing off the entry page to cover up for Tijani Balarabe, an army captain, and his team who released Wadume and killed some of the officers who arrested him.

One Abdul, a resident in Kano, was sentenced to three years for harbouring Wadume after he escaped from police custody.

However, the court discharged and acquitted the third and fifth defendants, Auwal Bala and Bashir Waziri, for lack of evidence against them.

WHO IS WADUME?

Wadume was reportedly a fish trader in Wukari, Taraba, up until 2018 when he allegedly went into kidnapping where he was said to have made millions.

He was said to have started kidnapping with six AK-47 riffles and 3,000 rounds of ammunition.

Wadume was arrested by the intelligence response team (IRT) of the inspector-general of police but escaped when soldiers opened fire on the team in 2019.

Three policemen and a civilian were shot dead in the incident.

He was later re-arrested at his hideout in the Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano state.