Taraba killing: DHQ panel recommends sanctions for army officer, ASP, 3 others

Seun Adeyeye 21:34 - 08 October 2019

Chief of Defence Staff, Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin (Daily Trust)

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has reportedly recommended some sanctions for the army officers and policemen involved in the Taraba killings.

The PUNCH has it that the Board of Inquiry set up by the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, put together at the instance of President Muhammadu Buhari has recommended sanctions for five personnel of the Nigerian Army and the police over the killing of three policemen and one civilian in Ibi, Taraba State, on August 6.

The board, in a statement by the DHQ on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, identified the officers to face disciplinary sanctions to include; Captain Tijani Balarabe, Sergeant Ibrahim Mohammed, Corporal Bartholomew Obanye of the Ibi Police Division, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Aondoona Iorbee, and Inspector Aliyu Dadje.

The panel also made it known that the officers must be taken through “necessary disciplinary measures.”

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It was also recommended that further investigation be conducted on Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, the Taraba kidnap kingpin, for gunrunning.

It would be recalled that the army in its statement on Thursday, August 8, 2019, said that the soldiers chased and exchanged fire with the police officers because they were mistaken for kidnappers, having received a distress call from villagers that Wadume had been kidnapped.