With the kind of leaders we have in this country, who needs enemies. I mean look at the psycho they left to serve and protect us [shake head] Until a fortnight ago, many
would have vowed that he
was no longer a policeman.
But controversial officer
Zakari Biu, recently
promoted Commissioner of
Police (CP) , has long been
‘secretly’ back in the force.
The escape of the Madalla
bombing suspect from his
custody has put the
enigmatic policeman to the
limelight. Will this be his
end? OLUKOREDE YISHAU
and OLUKAYODE THOMAS
write
He was a man after the
heart of Inspector-General
of Police Hafiz Ringim.
Zakari Biu, the embattled
police officer in charge of
terrorism in whose custody
a bombing suspect, Kabir
Sokoto, escaped two days
ago, was until this year a
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (DCP). Ringim
recommended him to the
Police Service Commission
(PSC) for promotion to
Commissioner of Police. The
PSC, after its 25th plenary
meeting, approved Ringim’s
recommendation. The
commission, in its wisdom,
also decided that Biu’s
promotion should take
effect from last December
15.
As the commission
announced Biu’s promotion
on New Year’s Day, it also
said nine other officers were
reprimanded. A Deputy
Superintendent of Police was
demoted to Assistant
Superintendent of Police for
conduct not expected of a
senior officer.
Its Chairman, Parry
Osayande, said the PSC
would always reward
diligence with elevation and
punish offenders. Less than
a month after it happily
promoted Biu, the
commission, most likely, will
have to review its decision,
with Biu’s alleged negligence
leading to the escape of a
suspect believed to be
central to the Madalla blast
in which scores died.
He is on suspension. Sadly
for him too, the officers,
whom he asked to escort the
suspect to his house before
his gang waylaid them and
set their colleague free, fled
yesterday, leaving Biu all
alone.
Like Ringim, Biu is due for
retirement next month. For
many who have had
encounters with him,
nemesis may be at work.
Under the regime of the late
Gen. Sani Abacha, the
embattled cop was terror
personified. As head of the
regime’s Presidential Task
Force on Terrorism, he
terrorised journalists and
human rights activists, who
he labeled terrorists.
Journalists on the stables of
The News, TSM and Tell
were the worse hit. The
publisher of the now rested
TSM, Chris Anyanwu, who is
now a senator, narrated how
Biu physically assaulted her
and practically got her eyes
permanently impaired.
Founder of the Oodua
Peoples Congress (OPC) Dr.
Frederick Fasehun, can
never forget Biu, whom he
told the Oputa Panel set up
by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo how the
embattled cop assaulted
him. Senator Babafemi
Ojudu, who was Managing
Editor of The News, said Biu
put a gun to his head,
threatening to blast his
brain.
The Borno-born cop is also
criticised over the death of a
reporter with The News,
Bagauda Kaltho.Biu claims
Kaltho was trying to
detonate a bomb in a hotel
and got killed in the process.
Kaltho’s widow was also
tricked by Biu to reveal
information about
Independent
Communications Nigeria
Limited (ICNL), publishers of
The News on the pretext of
reuniting her with her
husband. It turned out he
only deceived the woman, as
he used the information to
invade the magazine’s
offices, carting away its
property. Of course, he also
arrested workers found on
site during the raid. Biu’s
deceit became clear to Mrs.
Kaltho after the dreaded cop
announced her husband’s
death. He claimed a copy of
Wole Soyinka’s book, The
Man Died, was found at the
scene where Kaltho was
supposedly consumed by a
bomb he was trying to
detonate. Yet the book was
not defaced by the
explosion, which killed
Kaltho! His remains were
never released to his
family.
Biu, at a press conference
after Abacha’s death, said
Kaltho was the
“unidentified” person who
died while planting a bomb
which went off at Durbar
Hotel, Kaduna in January
1996. He then showed the
media a video recording of
the scene of the blast and
two photographs – one of a
charred body and another of
the journalist. Biu said he
“strongly suspects the
management of ICNL of
having connection with the
Durbar Hotel bombing or
else James Bagauda Kaltho .”
He later said Abacha’s Chief
Security Officer, Major
Hamza al-Mustapha , may
have been responsible for
Kaltho’s fate. “I have never
seen Kaltho in my life, either
alive or dead and don’t know
the whereabouts of Kaltho.
Only the Chief Security
Officer to the late Abacha,
Maj. Hamza al-Mustapha ,
can explain what happened
to Kaltho,” he said
When Biu appeared before
the panel, he refused to be
put on oath with the Holy
Quran, because “he is not
pure. ” He denied all the
allegations against him.
A retired Commissioner of
Police Abubakar Tsav, who
also appeared before the
panel, debunked Biu’s claim.
He said: “Everything he is
saying is not true. I mean
the evidence he gave in
respect of Bagauda Kaltho.
He said he got photographs
from the wife of Bagauda
Kaltho. He also said he got
reports from the SSS through
the Inspector-General of
Police, which said the person
who was killed in the bomb
blast at the Durbar Hotel
was Bagauda Kaltho. And he
said that he never met
Bagauda anywhere in his
life. Then how could he
come to that conclusion that
the man killed was Bagauda
Kaltho? He merely saw his
pictures …He (Biu) should be
in prison. As far as I’m
concerned, he is a prisoner
on parole. ”
James Danbaba, a colleague
of Biu, said Kaltho was
“summarily executed on the
orders of the Inspector-
General of Police, because
Kaltho was said to have
seen IGP Ibrahim Coomasie
suddenly collapse and was
foaming in the mouth.”
Danbaba added: “ The
journalist was ordered to be
arrested and executed
because of a disclosure that
he (Coomasie) is suffering
from epilepsy may
jeopardise the I GP’s well
preserved and seriously
guarded position and
ultimately lead to his
untimely retirement from
the police force.”
He added: “After the said
journalist, Bagauda Kaltho’s
summary execution, a bomb
was attached to his corpse
and detonated. I reliably
learnt that this was directed
at selling a story to the C-in-
C that a NADECO journalist
has died of a bomb explosion while attempting
to plant a bomb, thereby
finally covering their track
of having killed Bagauda
Kaltho and the reason for
his murder.”
After the death of Abacha,
his successor, Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar,
deemed it fit to ‘dash’ Biu a
national honour, a
development which irked
many of those who regarded
him as a brute.
In his book, Trials and
Triumphs: The Story of The
News, Dr. wale Adebanwi,
had harsh words for Biu.
Adebanwi said: “Zakari Biu,
Assistant Commissioner of
Police (ACP), the crude and
sadistic officer in charge of
the Presidential Task Force
on Terrorism, was probably
the best man for the
operation designed as the
“final solution” to the grave
problem posed by the ICNL
publications to the Abacha
regime. Biu was an officer
who represented the most
grotesque face of the Nigerian Police. He saw the
force as a repressive organ
of an unaccountable power.
And with the official bigotry
that not only sustained him
to the heights of the force,
anything that looked like
ethnocidal project excited
him.”
Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, who was sent to
jail by the Abacha regime,
felt Biu was not fit for the
force. He was said to have
asked then Inspector-
General of Police Musiliu
Smith if the controversial
cop was still in the force,
after meeting him at a
function. Not long after this,
Biu was dismissed.
But, unknown to many, he
was long back. Soyinka, in an
interview in 2010, said he
was aware Biu had been
recalled. The Nobel laureate
said: “Zakari Biu was dismissed from the Nigeria Police and has been recalled
into the Nigeria Police Force,
despite his crimes against
humanity during Abacha’s
dictatorial rule by torturing
innocent citizens. He could
be likened to Charles Taylor
of Liberia. He is brute and
has no concern for
humanity. For his past
history, he should not be
trusted with any national
responsibility as he is
capable of causing
terrorism, which could
destroy the image of Nigeria.”
The Nation learnt that after
Obasanjo’s exit from power,
Biu petitioned the PSC. Mike
Okiro was the IGP then. Biu
said he was retired without
getting a fair hearing. He
argued that by law, only the
commission could fire him.
Osayande saw merit in his
case and ordered his recall.
The then Public Relations
Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu,
said: “Biu is back in the Force as his name had never
been removed from the
Police register. Biu is now an
instructor at the Police
Academy in Wudil, Kano
State.”
Ringim’s emergence as IGP
paid off for Biu, as he was
entrusted with curbing
terrorism, which in the
country is synonymous with
an insurgent group, Boko
Haram, whose root is deep
in Borno, Biu’s home state.
Now he may have got his
fingers burnt. Only a few are
weeping with him. |
