• The suspects Photo: Sun News Publishing

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They are usually clad in combat military attire and are familiar faces along the Makurdi-Jos-Bauchi roads.
For some lucky motorists plying these routes who had not experienced a dose of brutality from the sometimes friendly men in camouflage uniform, these are a rare breed of soldiers committed to their duty of protecting lives and property in the highways. But as the clock ticks into dusk and the men are set for action, the reality of their true mission begins to unfold.

The scales of human kindness had momentarily fallen off their eyes, and hell is let loose. For as long as it pleased them, they asserted their authority as night lords and masters of the road, raping women, maiming and spilling innocent blood. Neither Umaru Saleh nor Sani Abubakar, is a personnel of the Nigerian armed forces.

They are deadly men of the underworld whose words and desire had become law in the highways especially at the northern flank of the country, where they robbed almost daily with ease and escaped unchallenged. Armed with sophisticated rifles in a gang numbering about 10, a typical day for them started by 5.am when they engaged in their early morning operations. Then, they retreat to the hill-tops in the forest to savour their success and strategize for the next round at dusk.

For them, it was simply fun and a way of life. In the line of duty, it was a taboo of sorts, for law enforcement agents particularly policemen to be sighted close to their area of operation. And the unwritten code of conduct was for such persons to be shot dead. In fulfillment of that creed, the gang leader, Umaru Saleh, says he had dispatched several police officers and men to their untimely graves, a claim corroborated by the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro. Perhaps, the most senior police officer in the list of the gang’s victims, is a deputy commissioner of police (DCP), who was felled in a hail of bullets alongside six other policemen while on duty during the April 2007 polls.

The police chief and seven of his men ran into an ambush laid by the bandits close to Nasarawa Eggon in Nasarawa State, where seven of them were killed except one who miraculously escaped to tell the story. “On that day”, Umaru recalled, while narrating how he wasted the cops, “we were about robbing in the highway when we heard the siren of a police vehicle. Immediately, we opened fire on them and we were able to get the driver, who lost control of the vehicle and it tumbled into a ditch.

Then, we moved close to the ditch and pumped bullets into the vehicle, killing all of them. Thereafter, we took their arms and ammunition, and went into the bush. In the night, we called our driver on phone and he came to pick us. It was a wonderful day for us”.

His claim was confirmed by the IGP, who said Umaru and Abubakar not only enjoyed killing policemen; they also killed soldiers who unwittingly crossed their path.
Said he: “The two suspects were members of a notorious armed robbery gang that operated along Makurdi, Bauchi, Ningi, Gombe, Alkaleri, Jos, Akwanga and Lafia areas in military uniform.

They’ve revealed that it was their gang that attacked and killed a DCP and six others during the April 2007 elections. They also confessed to killing two soldiers at Balgore area of Kano State and made away with their guns. Arrested recently in Jos, Plateau State, and now in police custody, Okiro said three AK-47 riffles have so far been recovered from them. Ironically, despite wasting several lives and committing other heinous crimes, Umaru says he is scared of death and is unwilling to face the hangman’s noose. “I don’t want to die, it’s not a good thing”, he pleads. Rather, he wants his life saved so that he would assist the police in tracking down other notorious armed robbers who are still on rampage.

Unfortunately, while his word was law during his reign as king of the highway, he is presently facing the reality of the undulating fortunes in life. His wish to be rescued from the long arms of the law have turned a tall dream that will never come to pass, as the IGP says the suspects would soon be arraigned in court.