Where is Dadiyata? by Ameenu Kutama

Where is Dadiyata? 

 

Early Friday morning, at about 1:00am as the entire country was in the final stages of its retirement to bed to refresh from the struggles that come with the larger part of the blessed day, a true son of the nation, Abubakar Idris (Abu Hanifa Dadiyata) was also retiring into his Barnawa residence in Kaduna, after his usual shuttle from Dutsinma in Katsina State, where he is a Lecturer, was bundled into his car by some agents of doom, said to be three by his wife who was witness to the kidnap. Dadiyata was subsequently whisked away from the impending warm embrace of his family into the dark clouds of mystery. 

More than 40 days later, Abubakar’s whereabouts is still unknown and neither has his BMW Car been seen to date.Pursuing his doctorate degree in Political Communication, Mr Abubakar is a lecturer at the Federal University Dutsinma, a Mass Communication Graduate of Bayero University Kano, he also holds a Masters degree in same field from a University in Malaysia. Known for his fierce criticism of the APC, especially in Kano and Kaduna, he is a well-known, staunch supporter of the opposition PDP, particularly the Kwankwasiyya movement on cyberspace, especially twitter. Dadiyata had been previously subject to life threats but he only opened up to his closest acquaintances (as he prefers to refer to his friends) until tragedy finally struck.

Since his abduction, efforts have been on by his family and friends to establish his whereabouts, but to no avail. Dozens of petitions submitted to the Police and DSS, protests have been held, calls have been made, but apparently to no avail. Such lackadaisical reaction, coupled with his ideological and political antecedent led to the allegation that his abduction is state sponsored. The People’s Democratic Party National Publicity Chairman said, “There are already public insinuations that Dadiyata’s abduction to an unknown destination is not unconnected with an apparent desperation to intimidate, supress and silence public speech in Nigeria as well as to further entrench a siege mentality on our country”. But the allegations have been already denied by the Police and DSS. “Unfortunately, this does not look like the conventional kidnapping we know”. The Kaduna State Police Spokesman, Abubakar Sabo told the Premium Times.

With the authorities apparently not much interested, this case puts our intelligence hardware very much in question. A father of two, Abu Hanifa’s family have been left at mercy of prayers and some concerted effort of his friends to get their son back. In a recent interview with Premium Times, his wife was quoted as saying; “The children have been asking about their daddy, the police are telling us they would their best and we have not been able to get anything more than that from them”. 

Strong doubt has also been cast over the effort put by Dadiyata’s political leader, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in ensuring the release of his ardent follower from his present ordeal, but in a series of press releases by him and the Kano State PDP Gubernatorial Candidate, Engr Abba Kabir Yusuf, both have reiterated their commitment to his travail and made series of pledges that they would ensure his release. It remains to be seen what the authorities would do in ensuring his safety and the fulfilment of the pledge made by his political leaders to ensure his release. I therefore call on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to stand up for one of their members and apply more pressure on the Government, his employers also need to break the ice and ensure that one of their staff members goes back to his students. 

While that ensues, we continue to ask the authorities #WhereIsDadiyata and solicit for people to continue praying for an end to his travail.  

Ameenu Kutama writes from Kano, Nigeria.