A top military source at the DHQ confided in one of our correspondents on Monday that the battalion had been issued a directive to produce the runaway kidnapper.
Also, the Nigerian Army headquarters confirmed that the captain who ordered the killing of the policemen and the civilians was being cross-examined at the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, in Taraba State.
Findings by one of our correspondents on Monday however showed that the DHQ panel had yet to visit Taraba State but the IGP investigative team had been in Taraba.
The acting Director, Defence Information, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, had said the panel was in “compliance with the directive issued by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and the joint committee has commenced work immediately.”
The Intelligence Response Team of the police led by ASP Felix Adolije had come under attack from soldiers along the Ibi-Jalingo Road while taking a kidnap kingpin, Wadume, to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo.
Three officers –Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeants Usman Danzumi, Dahiru Musa and a civilian –died as a result of gunshot injuries.
The Nigerian Army had claimed that the soldiers fired at the IRT team because they failed to stop at three checkpoints, but this was dismissed by the police which demanded the whereabouts of the kidnap suspect who was allegedly freed by the soldiers.
However, the arrested soldiers involved in the shootings were being detained in Takum before they were moved to Abuja, according to the top police source on Monday night.
Punch