Hamisu Bala, the Taraba-based kidnapper better known as Wadume, has been convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison on a two-count charge of escaping from lawful custody and unlawfully dealing in prohibited firearms.

The judgement convicting him of two of the 13 charges was delivered by Justice Binta Nyako, in the Federal High Court, Abuja on July 22, but only made available to the media on Sunday.

Wadume was charged alongside Aliyu Dadje, Auwalu Bala, Uba Bala, Bashir Waziri, Zubairu Abdullahi and Rayyanu Abdul.

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For altering police records in order to hide a crime, Dadje, a police inspector, was sentenced to three years imprisonment. At the time of the crime, he was the station officer at the Ibi divisional police headquarters in Taraba State’s Ibi LGA.

He was said to have tampered with entries made by Felix Adolije, leader of the IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) team in August 2019 as cover-up for Tijani Balarabe, an army captain, and his team who released Wadume and killed some of the officers who arrested him.

The judge also condemned Delu, Abdullahi and Abdul to seven years in prison. Meanwhile, the third and fifth defendants, Auwal Bala and Bashir Waziri, were discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence against them.

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Apart from being a kidnapper, Wadume was also a prominent supplier of arms and ammunition to terrorists in the northeastern and cattle rustlers across the north.

Wadume was taken into custody by the Nigerian Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) on August 6, 2019 in Ibi, Taraba State. But when he was being transported to Abuja for questioning, a group of soldiers manning a roadblock in Takum, Taraba State, attacked the police team transporting him. Wadume was freed while three police officers and two citizens were killed in the process.

On 19 August 2019, Wadume was rearrested at his new hideout in Latin Mai Allo Hotoro, Kano State.

Investigations eventually turned up evidence that Balarabe, the army captain, had spoken to Wadume over the phone numerous times before the checkpoint incident. Wadume would also later admit that Balarabe had always been on his payroll.