A soldier attached to Battalion 93 , Takum, Taraba State , Sgt . Ibrahim Muhammed , has narrated how he crashed a bus in which members of the Intelligence Response Team were travelling after apprehending a suspected kidnap kingpin, Bala Hamisu ( Wadume ) , on August 6 , 2019 .
The 46 - year - old member of the infantry regiment stated that he fired a shot at the tyres of the police Toyota Hummer bus causing it to somersault.
Muhammed said he fired the fatal shots after receiving orders from his commander , Capt. Tijjani Balarabe, directing him to stop the policemen “ by any means . ”
The sergeant with service number , 94 NA / 38 / 1750 , made the admission in his statement dated , August 16 , to the Joint Investigation Panel set up by the Chief of Defence Staff , Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin , to probe the killing of three policemen and their two civilian assistants by the troops commanded by Balarabe.
He said , “ I, Ibrahim Muhammed , wish to state that on August 8 at about 18 : 20 hours , while on duty at under - bridge checkpoint along Ibbi - Wukari road , my OC , Capt. Balarabe, called and told me that there were a suspected kidnappers ’ bus moving towards me on their way to Wukari .
“ He said they kidnapped Alh . Hamisu ( Wadume ) and I should make sure I stopped them by any means .
“ At that time , I was inside our house and one of my soldiers who was on duty called me and was shouting , ‘ Oga, look at the vehicle , they have passed and I stopped them , but they refused to stop . ”
Muhammed explained that he stepped out of his house and saw a crowd and a Sharon bus chasing after the police bus, and he joined the chase , adding that the police officers also failed to stop at the next checkpoint .
He noted that they chased the IRT officers to a military checkpoint at Gidan waya where he decided to attack the men .
“ Immediately they passed the checkpoint , I decided to engage them by firing at the tyres of the bus until the vehicle somersaulted which made me to cease fire immediately .
“ On reaching the vehicle , I came down from my vehicle and went behind the vehicle of the kidnappers , and saw people coming towards me with weapons which made me to withdraw and at the same time , telling them to drop their weapons.
“ One of them tried to drop his own and the next thing I heard was gunshots which made me to take cover , ” the soldier narrated .
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