Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Umar Sanda, has reacted to alleged plans to kill the former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, after the lawmaker petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba.
According to him, the suspect wanted to kill the lawmaker because he lost a house in the Tafawa Balewa crisis in which Dogara and 28 others were fingered.
Dogara claimed in his letter of August 19, 2022 that some police officers (Insp. Dakat Samuel, Insp. Auwalu Mohammed and Barau Amos ‘Sarkin Yaki’) in Bauchi conspired to kill him and three others in his constituency.
The CP said: “We received discreet information that one of our officers was attempting to sell a rifle, so we went after him. Initially, we received information that he was carrying the rifles inside his car. We went after him, got him and asked about the owner of the car and he said he is the owner. We searched the car and discovered the guns.
“We asked him, is it our own rifles that you wanted to sell? He said yes. We arrested him and started investigating him. In the course of our investigation, he implicated a man he was living with. In continuation of our investigation, he said it was someone in Tafawa Balewa that approached him saying he was looking for a rifle to buy.”
Further investigation led to the arrest of the man, who reportedly confessed that he was looking for rifle to buy because his house and those of others were burned during the December 2021 crisis that followed the Baba Peter Gonto memorial.
The CP added: “He mentioned names of some people, including that of the former speaker in connection to the incident, that he wanted to kill. So, we launched investigation in that regard.” On the missing rifle in the police armoury, he noted that he had directed an audit of the armory.
The Guardian gathered that in the course of auditing, it was discovered that apart from the two rifles intercepted, some were not in the armoury.
Sanda said: “Our armoury officer, who retired two years ago, was arrested the day before yesterday. I can tell you, if not because of what that man said, Dogara would not have discovered any statement from another person that his life was at stake. Apart from that man that said he was looking for rifle to kill the former Speaker, no suspect has corroborated his confession. We would not want to tell the world that this is that and that and at the end of the day, investigation reveals a different thing.”