Forty-eight-year-old Hashimu Galadima, a suspect and member of a four-man kidnap gang who were arrested by operatives of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Bauchi State, has opened up on how he and others killed a lawmaker in the state, Hon. Musa Mante, and kidnapped his two wives for ransom.
Galadima also confessed to the killing of a retired Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Garkuwa, as a revenge for the much trouble he caused them while he was in service and after.
Other suspects are Ahmadu Saleh (50); Abdulwahab Alhassan a.k.a Emeka (31) and Abdulwahab Ahmed a.k.a Dan Mama (25).
The suspected kidnappers were arrested by the IRT operatives, led by their commander, DCP Tunji Disu, after intelligence reports on the kidnappings, armed robbery and criminal conspiracy were lodged against them by the indigenes of Dass Local Government Area.
The Force Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who spoke on how the coordinated operation led to the arrest of the suspects, said that they confessed their individual involvement and roles in all the kidnappings and armed robbery operations in Plateau, Bauchi and Kaduna villages and market roads on Mondays.
The FPRO stated further that they confessed to shooting one Suleiman Shuaibu alias Shayi, to death, while his family members were abducted and later released after payment of ransom.
The key suspect, Galadima, said that his gang killed the retired DPO because he was always searching for them every time after any crime incident was reported.
On the killing of the lawmaker, he said that the criminal gang eliminated the man for refusing to assist them with funds after several requests were made of him from his gang members, whereas he always assisted others.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, had directed that all the weapons, arms and ammunition in the hands of criminal elements such as kidnappers and bandits should be mopped up immediately for security of lives of citizens of the nation.
The FPRO said that all the suspects would be be prosecuted in accordance with the provisions of the laws.
In an interview with Galadima, he narrated how he joined a kidnap gang.
Giving his background, he said: “I’m a farmer. I’m married to one wife and have four children.” Galadima continued : “I committed an offence of kidnapping. I joined a kidnap gang about a year ago.
“I was introduced to kidnap operations by friends Yelwa and Shagari, who are Fulanis. I’m Bajari by tribe.
“I was taken for a kidnap operation in December, 2021, about a week before Christmas celebration. The operation was organised by Yelwa and Shagari. Initially, they didn’t tell me the kind of operation we were going for. They just told me that they had some work to do and asked me to go with them. It was when we got there that I got to know that they were into kidnapping.”
My role
“I went with Yelwa, Shagari and Wakayi to the kidnap operation. The three others had AK-47 rifles while I held a cutlass. I followed them to the first kidnap operation I was involved in at Baraza Village, the hometown of Honourable Musa Mante, who was a member of the House of Assembly, Bauchi State, representing Dass Local Government. It was between 10pm and 11pm.
“At the time we got to the residence of Honourable Mante, he was discussing with his family. He had just come back from Abuja. We searched his room but could not find him. Meanwhile, he heard our voices and came out of his wife’s room, asking who we were.
“Yelwa and Shagari went to him and started talking to him about his unfulfilled promises. He had promised to dig boreholes for people in other villages. He gave the job to a contractor who had not finished it then. They told him that he did not fulfill his promise, saying that his end had come.
“We took him to his room to search it. We got a cash of N2 million and took it. Then Yelwa, our gang leader, cocked his AK-47 rifle and shot the honourable member inside his room at close range, killing him instantly. Yelwa and Shagari wore caps to cover their faces but I left my face bare because there was darkness all over the place.
“After killing the honourable, we kidnapped his two wives and took them to Dutsen Maigoshi (Maigoshi Mountain). They spent two days in captivity but were able to escape when we ran away from the mountain due to aerial and ground surveillance by the state government.
“Before the coming of the security officers, we had demanded N5 million as ransom for them to regain freedom, but we could not wait to get it as we escaped to avoid arrest.
“Out of the N2 million we got from our late victim’s room, I was given N100,000. They said that they didn’t want to give me much money so that I would not spend lavishly in a way that would raise suspicion.”
Galadima went on: “We also killed a retired Divisional Police Officer, CSP Garkuwa. This was because the DPO was hated by Yelwa and Shagari because he was disturbing their operations. They were criminals habitually involved in kidnapping, robbery and cattle rustling.
“After the DPO’s retirement, they got information about him and decided to go on a revenge mission.
“We went to Bazali Ward in Dass Local Government where he was living after retirement. It was Wakayi’s friend, Hamza, who organised the operation for us.”
How the DPO was killed
“He was in his compound at almost 11pm where he spread a mat and lay down, resting. We got to him and he was shot once. We didn’t take anything from the house. We were just on a revenge mission,” Galadima said.
Another murder
“We did the operation at Bunjang in Bununu District of Dass Local Government Area. We went to the residence of the Ward Head, killed one Dahiru Suleiman.
“What led to his being shot dead was that when we stormed his residence, he tried to resist us, dragging things with us which led to a fight. We overpowered and shot him once in the chest at close range.”
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the elder brother of the killed victim was an orderly to the Borno State governor, so they felt he would be living comfortably.
Continuing, he said: “After killing him, we kidnapped his wife, mother, elder brother’s wife and took them to Dutsen Maigoshi. We demanded a ransom of N2 million, but the family struggled and paid N1 million. They spent three days in captivity before they were released after the payment. I was given N50,000 as my share. They insisted on not giving me much money so as not to be exposed through my lavish spending.”
Another kidnap was said to have been masterminded by Abdulwahab Alhassan a.k.a. Emeka, also of Bajari tribe.
According to Galadima, “Emeka was the one who gave us information on how to kidnap one Alhaji Muhammadu Na-Ndur and his friend, Alhaji Yusuf Yenke. Alhaji Na-Ndur is a businessman and dealer in petroleum products. Alhaji Yenke is also a businessman dealing in raw foodstuffs.
“We took them to Dutsen Maigoshi where they spent two days in captivity. We demanded N3 million as ransom but the family was able to put together N1.5 million.
I was given N100,000 which I shared equally with Emeka, the mastermind.”
Nigerian Tribune learnt that it was Alhaji Ahmadu’s arrest over a case of gun possession that led to Galadima’s arrest.
Alhaji Ahmadu reportedly harboured Galadima in his house in the bush at Panshanu village after he ran away from his village.
Galadima, an ex-convict, had reportedly been jailed three times. He was said to have met Emeka in the prison while he was also serving his own term in Central Prison, Bauchi.
IRT operatives reportedly arrested Alhaji Ahmadu in connection with an AK-47 rifle sold to him by Galadima at the cost of N340,000, it was further learnt.
Ahmadu had paid N140,000 and wanted to pay the balance in instalments, while he hid the rifle. His cousin, identified as Madaki, however took the rifle from where it was hidden after learning about Ahmadu’s arrest. He escaped with it to an unknown destination.
A police source said that it was Ahmadu that made revelations about his link with Galadima. After his arrest, Galadima reportedly poured out everything that transpired within his gang before he led the police to other arrested suspects.
Another suspect, Abdulwahab a.k.a Dan Mama, reportedly took two Fulanis on his bike to Emeka, who is also a drug dealer. The two men were said to have taken the hard drugs given to them by Emeka. Dan Mama also knew the two men he conveyed were kidnappers.
Alhaji Ahmadu said that he bought the AK-47 rifle to protect his family and his business as someone who was rearing goats and sheep, and to escort hunters to the forest for bush meat.
Galadima, who pleaded with the government for forgiveness, said: “Before I became deeply involved in kidnapping, I had never done such a thing. I don’t know what came over me that made me join Yelwa and Shagari in kidnapping. The government should have mercy on me and pardon me of my misdeeds. I won’t do such a thing again.”
In his confession, Alhassan, who further confessed that they worked with the gang leader in the various kidnapping cases, added that he was previously dealing in hard drugs and had interacted and known all the criminals terrorising the villages in Bauchi.
He added that he was an ex-convict who was arrested for drug offences by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and was imprisoned twice bagging two-year jail terms.
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