The Department of State Services has reopened investigations into the 2019 disappearance of Abubakar Idris, popularly known as Dadiyata, and is set to invite suspects in connection with the case.
Dadiyata, a lecturer at the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina State, was declared missing on August 1, 2019, after gunmen reportedly took him from his residence in Kaduna.
His whereabouts remain unknown nearly seven years later.
The development comes as Kadijah, the wife of social media commentator and critic, expressed fresh worries over her husband’s disappearance.
Punch reports that she spoke in a video interview with Ambassador-designate Reno Omokri, which was released on his X handle on Thursday.
Omokri, who visited the mother of two at her residence, sought support for Kadijah and her children, pledging to get justice for her.
“We pray that one day, he will come back,” Kadijah said when asked what she had to say about her husband’s disappearance over the years, especially given recent comments made by former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
Appealing to Nigerians, she said, “They should please do whatever they can to help us know his whereabouts, if he’s alive or not.”
Omokri further asked Kadijah what she had to say about an old comment made about her husband that suggested “mockery.”
“It was somebody who showed me (the post) because I didn’t have a phone at that time,” she said of the 2019 comment reportedly made by the son of a former Kaduna State Governor.
The post had read, “Those same clowns who encouraged him when he was creating false stories and capitalising on lies that could endanger lives solely for political ends are the same individuals trending hashtags asking, ‘#WhereisDadiyata.’
“Dangerous lies in the public space have consequences. I felt bad about it (the comment). I can’t even explain,” Kadijah stated in the video.
She further narrated how her husband was abducted as he alighted from his car in their compound on August 2, 2019, saying she watched from the window as it happened.
Assuring Kadijah of Dadiyata’s safe return if he is alive, and justice in the unlikely event of his death, Omokri empathised with the woman and sought assistance for the family.
He appealed to the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, for “whatever he can do for them… to help their living conditions, probably relocate them, help their education, or help the mother with a job. Nigeria owes a duty of care to this family for what has happened to them.”
Dadiyata, a lecturer and online commentator, was abducted on August 2, 2019, by unidentified gunmen as he drove into his home in Barnawa, Kaduna.
