Posted by By IBRAHIM BARDE, Kano on
The leader of a notorious armed robbery gang that seems to specialise in attacking governors convoys has sensationally revealed that it was he who shot and killed Chief Andrew Agom in an attack on Governor George Akume's convoy along Lafia-Akwanga road last year.
The leader of a notorious armed robbery gang that seems to specialise in attacking governors convoys has sensationally revealed that it was he who shot and killed Chief Andrew Agom in an attack on Governor George Akume's convoy along Lafia-Akwanga road last year.
Babayo Dingau, along with six other members of his gang were arrested in Jeba, Niger State last week by men of the Nigerian Police Force and were being taken to Bauchi when the open truck conveying them stopped for refueling at a filling station in Tarauni, Kano Thursday.
The sight of the suspected gangsters, heavily handcuffed and chained to one another had aroused the curiosity of our correspondent who was at the petrol station to refuel his car.
In the ensuing interview, Dingau a.k.a Anuba said the attack on the Benue State governor was staged by his gang and revealed that the bullet that killed Agom who was in the same car with Akume came from his gun.
He gave a list of prominent Nigerians attacked by his gang to include Akume, his Niger State counterpart, Abdulkadir Kure, former Borno State governor, Alhaji Mallah Kachallah and the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahamoud Shinkafi.
According to him, 'It was last rainy season, we were working (robbing) when they (Akume's convoy) came in abruptly. So we had to shoot at them. I was the one who fired the gun; later we were told the governor's friend was killed by my gunfire.
Any sympathy?
'No, no, no! When we are in operation, there is no mercy, it is only after the operation that we tend to rationalize what we have done, but that is only some times because you have no time to rationalize or apportion blame."
Attack on Mallah Kachallah
'We were operating between Damboa and Biu at a place called Alarama when the then governor's convoy ran into us; we were robbing cattle sellers who were returning from Lagos and heading to Banki with huge sums of money. We were acting on a tip off by members of our information unit who were in Lagos, pretending to be cattle sellers while monitoring the true sellers' movement. In the process, the vehicle conveying the cattle sellers escaped and one of our colleagues, Batu was shot dead by the escort in the bus. 'However, later our informants at the market gathered that seven people were killed as a result of our firing into the bus while it was escaping to safety.
'As for the Governor, our attack broke his convoy into two, some went back while others went ahead but a mobile policeman in the convoy shot dead our colleague, Issah Dabare. We planned a revenge mission on the bus but it did not come; however, some policemen on patrol ran into us and we over powered them, killing three of them in the shoot out."
Attack on deputy governor of Zamfara State
'The Deputy-Governor of Zamfara State and his convoy ran into us at western part of Gusau that day while we were in operation. It was about nine in the morning; the security in his convoy opened fire on us, we retaliated and they withdrew and reversed and left; it was at Daki Takwas. We made only N40, 000.00 that day and left hurriedly out of fear. The police in Gusau later arrested one of our drivers, Adamu Hamza alias Ado Yaron Malam; the police in Zamfara State have also arrested our informant from Zamfara a.k.a. Atta.
Breakdown of the places I robbed
'I have robbed at many places, both within and outside Nigeria: I have robbed in Chad, I have robbed in Congo Kinshasa at a place called Seboua. 10 people were killed there. I have robbed at Dourbe, Garoua were 20 people were killed and Duala, all in Cameroun. Coming back home, I have robbed in many places but some of the spectacular places were Yawuri-Jega road. We made N3.3m but no body was killed. It was 9 o'clock in the morning. We robbed along Onitsha-Benin road and made away with lots of money and killed many members of the vigilance group there; we robbed a bus from Sokoto at a spot in Niger State and made away with N9.4m, it was on a Sunday. We got two rifles from the operation, we killed one escort and left the other one to go and tell the story. Last Christmas, we blocked the Shaki-Benin Republic road; police men in three jeeps landed there but we over powered them; one of the drivers was shot in the head and his jeep overran many people wearing white clothes going to Church. We had ordered to lie face down on the road before the policemen stormed there. Many people were killed but a hunter killed our colleague; we made N1m and had to leave there hurriedly."
My worst operation
'My name is Babayo Dingau but my friends call me Anuba. I am from Biu, Borno State. The operation that has remained evergreen in my memory is the one we undertook four years ago at Sheme. The leader then was Abbo Al-Moussa, a Chadian of Shuwa stock. We had blocked the road, thinking we were going to find it easy, with sophisticated ammunitions at our disposal but that was not to be. The villagers had mobilized, numbering over a thousand and charged at us with Dane guns, cutlasses, spears, cudgels, bow and arrows etc. Suddenly, confusion enveloped the place and in the melee that followed, Abbo was killed after we had killed over 50 people. We took to our heels because the villagers were determined to cut us to size."
Dangi took over as leader
'After Abbo, our leader and sharp shooter was killed, somebody from Dange in Sokoto State whom we called Dange took over by popular votes but shortly after that, he was killed by a member of the Customs from the Brigade Mobile in Niger Republic while attempting to rob a lorry carrying smuggled goods."
How I became a leader
'Soon after Dange was killed, I became I leader. It was after I took over that we attacked the convoy of the Governor of Niger State. In the attack, we shot dead a policeman with a walkie-talkie; he was one of the escorts. We used the walkie talkie and called them to come back but they did not; they were scared," he said and burst out laughing, loudly, revealing his kola-nut and cigarette stained teeth.
Why do you smoke?
'Is that so? I don't even know I am smoking a lot; at any rate, every armed robber that is worth his salt smokes the same way. Do you know why? We are passing through tension of unimaginable proportion. The feeling that one might be dead the next moment tempt us to enjoy life at any given opportunity; we go for the most beautiful girls and spend our money on them and they make us happy. They give themselves to us but in order to forget the recurrent feeling of death; we smoke to suppress the tension. This is not to say one is a coward, it is natural to feel that way."
We have a union
'We have a union to protect each other. If any family man among us is killed, we take care of his children until they come of age and for most times, they join us to carry on with the struggle. We also inter-marry among ourselves and ours is a family business. Our meeting point is cattle markets through out Nigeria, we carry identity cards on us as cattle sellers to cover up."
He had hardly concluded his treatise when the open van conveying them, driven by and escorted by heavily armed policemen took off to Bauchi.