…How PSC scuttled Zakari Biu’s political ambition, why he may go to jail.
His comeuppance has come in a most ignominious manner. Hassan Zakari Biu did not bargain for what has eventually come his way. For a police officer whose commitment to service often verged on zealotry, Zakari Biu’s career came to a halt the day Mallam Kabiru Abubakar DIKKO (a.k.a Kabiru SOKOTO) escaped from police custody.

Kabiru, alleged to be the master mind of the Christmas day bombing in Madalla, Suleja, near the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, at that time escaped from Police custody, specifically, Biu’s team. The Madalla bombing claimed 44 lives.

The escapee Kabiru was later arrested in Mutum Biu, the sleepy village in Gassol LGA of Taraba State, some 25 days later – interestingly, whereas Zakari Biu’s team caused the escape of Kabiru Sokoto, the latter was re-arrested in a village with the suffix BIU. Kabiru, upon interrogation, later made useful information available about the Ahlan Sunnah Lid Da’waati wal Jihad Yaanaa (brothers), popularly known as the Boko Haram sect.

For instance, it was during interrogation that it came to light that it was actually one run-away Bashir Ibrahim is the cell leader in charge of Madalla, Suleja and Abuja operational axis of Boko Haram.

It also came to light during investigation that in fact, Ibrahim may in deed be the mastermind of the Madalla Christmas Day bombing, with Kabiru playing the role of an operational hand. Information pieced together at the weekend confirmed that Kabiru Sokoto was the leader of the sect in Sokoto State but “had to flee because of the security searchlight and the heat on him.

“It was this heat”, Sunday Vanguard was told, “that led him to move base to Abuja before his initial arrest by the Police, his miraculous escape while being escorted to his residence in Abaji, and eventual re-arrest in Mutum Biu in Taraba State by men of the Department of State Service, DSS”.

There is already a manhunt for Bashir Ibrahim. Therefore, when at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, Hafiz Ringim, then Inspector General of Police, IGP, appointed Biu, a tested anti-terrorism officer of the Force to crackdown on members of the sect it was thought to be a wise decision.

Displaying a mean stance against the sect Zakari Biu reportedly spared no bullet in dealing with Boko Haram members.
And so when Kabiru was arrested, it was to Biu’s custody that he was handed.

For a kingpin in a sect that has (and continues to wreck havoc) with casualties reaching dizzyingly embarrassing and dangerous levels, it was a national calamity that Kabiru escaped.

When in 1999 Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo became President and Commander-in-Chief, he did not hide his disdain for anything or anybody who had been associated with late maximum dictator, Sani Abacha, for whom Biu led a crack team of specially trained police men. He caused Biu to be eased out of service.

But after a while, some of Biu’s associates prevailed on him, especially after Obasanjo’s exit, that he could make a re-entry into the force. They hinged their position on the fact that prior to 1999, he had had no query. His people too, were already preparing him for political office. Now, information available did not confirm which office Biu had planned to go for but it was established that his eyes were on politics in future.

Sunday Vanguard was made to understand that it was this political angle that led Biu to reconsider not contesting the manner in which he was eased out of the Nigeria Police Force in 1999. In recommending his recall, the Police Service Commission directed that the Police authorities pay Zakari Biu, all his outstanding allowances and salaries dating back to 1999 when he was eased out of the force.

At the Police College Kano, where he was subsequently posted to, he had told his colleagues that his coming back to the force was for him to clear his name for sake of posterity because so many stories about him were false, and that if he is able to make the position of a Deputy Commissioner of Police before retirement, it would be a bonus.

However, when Hafiz Abubakar Ringim, his bosom friend and course mate became the Inspector General of Police, and came face to face with the menace of Boko Haram, Ringim who knew that Zakari Biu is one of the earliest and few Police officers trained abroad in Counter Terrorism tactics and investigations, saddled him with the task of investigating issues associated with the sect’s atrocities immediately after the Force headquarters bombing last June.

After Kabiru’s escape, the Force Disciplinary Committee, FDC, made up of the former DIG’s under Ringim, sat, tried him and made their recommendations to the PSC before they were asked to go with Ringim by President Goodluck Jonathan last month.

Zakari Biu appeared before the FDC on January 24, 2012, under IGP Ringim with five other Policemen, in whose custody Kabiru escaped. They were charged with conspiracy and negligence of duty leading to Sokoto’s escape and the FDC sat behind closed doors at the Force Headquarters conference hall for the trial that lasted over six hours.

The FDC recommended Biu for dismissal and passed its recommendations to the PSC. Before the PSC could act, Ringim himself was fired on Wednesday, January 25, 2012.

For Ringim, a run of bad luck regarding security challenges for the Police led Goodluck Jonathan to fire him. Therefore, when on Wednesday, the same type of day Ringim was fired, Biu also got the boot, it turned out to be a wicked coincidence of fate. Up until his sacking, Zakari Biu was in charge of Special Investigations at Zone 7 headquarters.

The PSC statement said, “The Police Service Commission, after due consideration of the role played by the Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Hassan Zakari Biu, in the escape of the Boko Haram suspect, Kabiru Sokoto, today 22nd February, 2012 approved the dismissal of Mr. Hassan Zakari Biu from the Nigeria Police Force with effect from February 22, 2012”.

The implication of his dismissal according to Police sources is that the senior officer who currently is in detention, would soon be charged to court for conspiracy and negligence of duty, thereby allowing a prime suspect of the state put under his care, to escape; and he faces a possible jail term if found guilty of the allegations by the courts. With Zakari Biu’s sacking, his political ambition may have gone with the wind.

This is more so because in the event that he is tried – as he may indeed be – for the conspiracy, all indicators suggest that the verdict from the courts will not in any way help a political pursuit as the man may end up in jail.

The new IGP, M D Abubakar has made it clear that he would flush out bad eggs from the force. This may just be the beginning. vanguard

Jail will even help him become d next president, how can we trust Nigeria?