On Sunday, Hamisu Bala, popularly known as Wadume, received a hero’s welcome in his home town of Ibi, Taraba State.
Wadume had served a jail term “for escaping from lawful custody and unlawfully dealing in prohibited firearms”.
According to reports, a respectable number of Ibi residents danced around the town carrying leaves and painting their faces with chalk in jubilation.
Prior to his 2022 sentencing, however, Wadume was known to be a Taraba State-based kidnapping kingpin who operated across the northeast, northwest and north-central states of Nigeria.
Wadume was also known to be a prominent supplier of arms and ammunition to terrorists in the northeastern part of the country and cattle rustlers across the north.
When he was first arrested by the police in 2019, there was a remarkably bloody incident.
FREED BY SOLDIERS UNDER QUESTIONABLE CIRCUMSTANCES
On August 6, 2019, Wadume was first arrested by Nigerian Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Ibi, Taraba State.
While being taken to Abuja for interrogation, however, the police team conveying him was attacked by a team of soldiers manning a checkpoint in Takum, Taraba State.
In the process, three policemen and two civilians lost their lives, and Wadume was set free.
Five other police officers were also seriously injured during the attack.
While explaining the reason for their action before a joint panel probing the incident, the military said they were alerted that the occupants of the vehicle were kidnappers who had just abducted Wadume from his house and were taking him to their hideout.